The sprawling story of Calva Louise, the band that found each other from opposite corners of the world – whose combined influences and experiences created a myriad of captivating threads entwined into their existence. Metal, punk, electronica and art rock weave through grandiose narratives and cinematic storytelling with a mind-blowing visual delivery – Welcome to the Calva Louise Universe and the release of their new studio album, Edge of the Abyss, which is co-produced by Pendulum’s Gareth McGrillen and out now via Mascot Records.
The Edge of the Abyss sees characters travelling between different dimensions, with people who mysteriously resemble doubles of each of us, like shadows that seem to stalk us but who, in reality, seek to communicate. Who are these beings? What do they want from us? How can we reach them?
The incredible cinematic sci-fi videos for the album singles show different times and worlds where some characters have encounters with their ‘doubles’. They are all VFX and directed by frontperson Jess Allanic.
We had a chat with Jess all about the band’s journey so far, Edge Of The Abyss, touring and more. Read the interview below.
Hi Jess! How are you? How’s things been for Calva Louise recently in the run up to the new album release?
“I’m good! Thank you so much! It’s been hectic but also very good!”
Calva Louise recently released new record Edge Of The Abyss. We know the LP is a concept album which sees characters travelling through different dimensions in an alternate reality. Please tell us more! Who/what were your influences for the themes on the LP?
“The story turns basically around the concept of the human duality represented by the existence of two sides in the human life experience. Following the characters from the Lore of the story that I started to write when I was 10 years old, both sides are identical in appearance and are called “The Travellers” and their counterparts “ The Doubles”.
“As the music videos form part of a larger science fiction project to provide an immersive experience for the audience, all Calva Louise’s songs are linked as prequels or sequels of the first Lore’s video production, which was released in 2020. The video sequences are constantly evolving with each new song, firstly because of the new skills and effects that I learn continuously, and also because of the budget the band can afford for each new video production, which currently is practically 0.
“Since the beginnings, I wanted the releases to be based on three different perspectives, where the lyrics represent our experience as we the humans live in this world, the symbolism representing portals to new perceptions of reality through our dreams, and the music and videos representing the unification of both sides in an unknown dimension where all perceptions are intertwined.”
As mentioned, the songs also come with some incredible DIY cinematic sci-fi visuals. Where did you draw inspiration from for the aesthetics of this chapter in the Calva Louise universe?
“From everything I love! I am a big consumer of art in any form, especially cinema, so a lot of different movies, directors and genres have been influencing me.”
Edge of the Abyss is your third album. Please take us through your songwriting/creative process for the record. Have you done anything differently this time around? What was your favourite part making the album and what did you find most challenging?
“It was pretty much similar to what we have always done, it’s all very DIY! We recorded it at home, not in a studio, and I wrote it in between tours and shows! We also recorded it that way, whenever we had a chance. The biggest difference this time is that we got to work with legendary artists! Gareth McGrillen co-produced and co-mixed the album, and we wrote two songs together for it as well, it felt like a dream come true, he was our mentor! We also worked with our dear friend Mazare who co-produced and co-mixed it too and with Dean McCarthy from Mechanica studios who did the most amazing job mastering it. The amazing thing is that we did all that post-recording process remotely as everyone was in different places, countries even continents some times! That part was a bit more challenging because of all the deadlines but because this team was so wonderful and so motivated (and motivating!) We managed to get everything done on time and with so much love!”
Calva Louise has quite the origin story! Is everything how you dreamed it would be? What struggles, if any, have you faced as a band and how have you overcome them?
“I don’t know really what I was dreaming at the time, but this has certainly been a beautiful and challenging path. I feel we’ve always done what we could, one of our biggest challenges were not having our families around and money in a country where we didn’t know anyone (Alizon didn’t even speak English at the time!) This meant that we had a lot of misfortunes that were unavoidable and we always did our best to keep on going, which was certainly harder than it seemed to us at the start, when reality sank in with no safety net. But that being said, we could overcome all of it because of our friendship (as cheesy as that sounds) but we chose living by the edge of the abyss and have this adventure that it’s almost impossible for people with no means, so in that regard we have been the luckiest people to have always found a solution to not fall apart in every sense, we feel that to have found each other have kept us going despite the pain and struggle, that’s that little centimeter of luck.”
You finished a tour earlier this year with Bloodywood. Will there be a tour in support of the album? For anyone that has yet to see you live, what can someone expect from a Calva Louise show? How do you want fans to feel after leaving one of your gigs/sets?
“We’re going to the US in September and touring Europe/UK supporting Stray From The Path in November! We’re working hard to give a great show, with lots of diy little devices like the keyboard stand that Alizon built for me, that it’s pretty cool to see live!”
Where else would you love to tour? Which cities do you hope to visit and play in the future?
“As many as we can! I’d love to travel the world as much as we can! Would love to come back to Latin America and also we would love to play in New Zealand!”
Finally, what else is next for Calva Louise? Any goals for the future?
“Just keeping on creating, developing the story and more music of course! We want to work as hard as we can to get a budget to further our ideas and vision!”
