“Always/Never” by Kallai
Melancholy and optimism, laced with a touch of sarcasm within their sentimentality, are among their defining traits. Kallai from Portland came together not too long ago to create a sonic dreamworld that, despite its unreality, remains tangible and authentic. David Gross (guitar, vocals), Daniel Henderson (drums), Cate Hukle (guitar, synthesizers, vocals), and Brian Wilcher (bass guitar) united last fall from various bands, drawing inspiration from the post-punk, shoegaze, and doom artists of the past decades. From this journey of inspiration emerged their debut “Always/Never,” which is released today.
The song addresses self-determination and independence in matters of love and relationships, emphasizing that no one has a claim over another’s feelings or life. True autonomy lies in rejecting unwanted affection and control,
identity and freedom in the struggle for independence against the expectations of others.
They envelop this theme in a shoegaze-typical cloud where the fuzz pedal is heavily employed. The song starts immediately and without preamble; it gets straight to the point from the first second, then gives space to the vocals. The timeless melody, combined with the wall of distortion, creates a wave-like counterbalance to the lyrics and vocal part, exuding an aura of shy eternity. Bass and drums, though restrained, are powerful in their effect, forming the solid backbone and driving force in the sound-time continuum. The vocal performance itself is perfectly melancholic and slightly anthemic, fitting the genre, with Cate setting accents that give the song additional expression.
Kallai’s debut with “Always/Never” is definitely a success, and we can look forward to their next release with anticipation.
Q&A (with Cate Hukle)
It’s a pleasure to have you here, Kallai, a new exciting band hailing from Portland. Could you please share the story of how your group was formed and began this musical journey?
Daniel and I play together in another band called Luscious Apparatus, while Brian and David are both members of Lost Echoes. Both of those acts went on an extended hiatus last year. All of us still had an itch to make and play music, and our other bands had played a show together before. So we were all at the least aware of one another and decided to get together to see how writing and performing might work for us.
What are the key musical influences that shape the unique sound and identity of your band?
I would put our common influences into three big buckets. There are your classic shoegaze & alt rock bands like Slowdive, Swervedriver, or Catherine Wheel. Next there are post-punk acts like The Cure or Echo & the Bunnymen. Then there is a third bucket of darker & heavier stuff that I just label doom for brevity. That last bucket could be anything from Hum to Holy Fawn. Then we all have our individual influences. David is digs electronic music like Boards of Canada. Brian loves early U2. Daniel has a background in metal and loves Spotlights. My background is in punk, but I love everything ranging from Erik Satie to Alcest. Your first release, “Always/Never,” is both timeless and catchy. Could you tell us about the inspiration behind this track and its backstory?
Sure. I had been playing guitar in a witchy dream pop project in Seattle that fell apart at the start of the pandemic, and I still had that itch to make music. I spent time during the summer of 2020 teaching myself music production basics by doing private covers of songs by artists like Cranes, Tamaryn, Juliana Hatfield, and a '90s midwestern shoegaze band called Shallow.
That fall I was on an extended medical leave from work and had extra time on my hands, and I also happened to be in therapy where I was doing a lot of reflection about myself and past relationships. The first version of "Always/Never" came out of the mix of all of that. It's changed a ton for the better over the years as I've put work into it and been lucky enough to have fantastic collaborators like Brian, Daniel, and David put their own touches on it.
This single is a teaser for your forthcoming EP. What kind of musical experience should we expect from it?
A big thing for me in early conversations with the rest of the band was that I did not want to be overly prescriptive about what our “sound” was going to be. So the EP is kind of like a sampler plate of a few influences. "Always/Never" is pretty much a straight-ahead guitar-driven shoegaze song. Other tracks on there lean a little more into synthesizer inflected post-punk and dream pop territory, while another might take a bit more inspiration from bands like Hum or Swervedriver.
When it comes to crafting songs, what’s your approach? Are there designated roles within the band, or do you lean towards a more spontaneous creative process?
For this first EP, everything began with either a prior demo of mine or one of David's. For most of the songs, we would bring those together and try to work through them as a group and make adjustments to the arrangements with input from Brian and Daniel. Everybody would end up working out the specifics of their parts, with the demos mostly just being a rough map. For a song like "Always/Never" we also added small flourishes like the acoustic guitar textures in the second verse or the lead lines in the outro as part of the production process.
With the EP wrapped up we've decided to try establishing a process that works on a regular monthly cadence. So David and I might meet to test out some riffs or small pieces of ideas together. We record those pieces and then we each separately take 2 or 3 we liked and try to fashion them into a demo that then gets shared. From that we pick the one we like the most, and that's what we focus on for the next few practices until it becomes an actual song that we record. Then we start the process over again.
With a sound that seems tailor-made for live performances, will your fans have the opportunity to experience your music in person on stage?
First I am crossing my fingers that we will have fans! But, yes, our first show is in April with Black Nite Crash from Seattle and our friends in Ten Million Lights. We have some other shows in the works both in Portland, but also working on some dates in Seattle and other places in the PNW. Given the choice to perform anywhere in the world, which dream location would you pick for a concert?
There are so many possibilities to consider here. On one level, whichever place wants to book us next with other good acts is a dream. On the other hand, my mom is half-Japanese and my language skills haven't completely atrophied, so playing Fuji Rock would be pretty freaking cool.
Navigating the indie music scene can be quite demanding. How do you manage to maintain a balance between your musical endeavors and personal life?
Back when I was in grad school the joke about this was, "Study & Teach. Social Life. Sleep. Pick two." Seriously though, I think we're all in this as a DIY passion project. We all have full-time jobs and families and there's a recognition that those things are going to come first. So a big part of this is sharing responsibilities, communicating well about timelines, and having those with the most bandwidth & desire at the time take on a bit more of the work side of things.
In terms of social media, what’s your stance? Do you view it as an unavoidable aspect of the industry or as a valuable platform for promoting your work?
Like so many things, social media is a huge mixed bag. I'm a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and online spaces have been incredibly important to me in forming connections and better understanding myself. But it has absolutely had many negative effects on the world. As a musician it just seems like you have to engage with it on some level if you want to find fans.
That's doubly true when you consider the financial pressures venues have come under in recent years and how that makes it more difficult for them to book smaller acts. I think the important thing is finding a way to consistently use it that feels natural to you and fits into your creative process without taking too much of your attention away from the art you want to create.
Currently, what projects are you immersed in, and what future projects can we look forward to?
Kallai will have a video releasing a couple of weeks after this single drops, followed up by the EP later this summer. While we’re busy gearing up for live performances, we also have a couple of currently unrecorded songs that will probably make up half of a second EP. As far as other projects go, Daniel has a visceral industrial solo act called Newphasemusic which will release its second full length here this summer. David also has a side project called Reclaimed that is more electronic focused. There will also probably be a Luscious Apparatus release out later this year that Daniel and I helped record a while ago.
Photo credit: Renee Coutlee
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