CAL records himself in the shower─and it’s not what you’re thinking. “It probably sounds weird,” he says. “But I start humming or saying things in the shower. I’m a habitual shower singer, so I started leaving a recorder on when I shower.”
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Taking a shower is certainly an unconventional setting for songwriting, and CAL takes a moment to reflect on something acclaimed Grammy-winning producer Pharrell Williams once told him. “Back in the day with Timeflies, we had dinner with him, and we were talking about working on something,” he recalls. “Of course, I love everything he’s done, and I was picking his brain on where ideas come from. He said something that was so profound. He said, ‘I find ideas come when my body isn’t in its most normal state.’ What a crazy thought, but it’s true.”
On this particular occasion, the melody of CAL’s new song “In the Water” sprang from the tap, a creative charge that sent him scurrying to build drums and an early backbone of production. Not really thinking, and starved for human connection, CAL teased a clip of the song across his socials last summer. “I can’t imagine doing that right now,” he says with a laugh. “I was just sitting there having made these drums, and the song sounds really cool. But I’m looking around to no one there. I was thinking, ‘You know what, whatever, what’s there to lose.’”
A flood of texts and comments came in, including from Meghan Trainor and soon-to-be collaborator Quinn XCII. “The video kept picking up steam, which created more buzz and more people reaching out,” CAL tells American Songwriter over a phone call. Both in quarantine, it initially didn’t seem he would have a chance to actually meet-up in person. “But Quinn was able to come over here, and we sat and talked about the song and what the chorus meant to him the first time he heard it. We spent the whole day together and fleshed out the song.”
Later, the two sent various versions back and forth, eventually looping in co-writer Jorgen Odegard to further elevate the production. “I have a feeling about this song that I’ve never had. It just feels organic. It’s like everything that had been missing for 2020,” he says. “For the finishing touches, I remember I was visiting my family back east in Massachusetts. I was on the phone with Jorgen, and we were going over notes. These crickets were so loud in the background. He’s like, ‘What is going on?’ I had a zoom recorder with me, and I recorded the crickets. You can hear them in the intro of the song, and they’re on the whole song. It has this warmth and hominess to it.”
In the accompanying visual, directed by Mike O’Brien, CAL mounts an effects-heavy representation of the evocatively wet lyrics. “We go back so far. He called me. He said, ‘Before I write this down, here’s what I’m thinking: the whole thing about this song is there’s an unknown element in the water. There’s just something magical there. Visually, water is so under-explored, and I feel we could do some crazy things if I got the highest frame-rate camera and really slow it down. We could capture the essence of water.’ That idea came from him, and we started building out, scene by scene. It’s more about the visual moments.”
Newly signed to Photo Finish Records, CAL has something truly special on his hands. There’s something warm about the winter when you come around, he sings over production almost trickling like spring rain. There’s nothing bougie about you, cozy as a hand-me-down.
“In the Water” is the first release for the label and follows up last winter’s “Dressed Up in White,” a love letter to his wife. “I feel like I have my feet planted in a way that I didn’t before,” he says.
Matt Galle, label founder, has long served as CAL’s agent, so the decision to sign felt like a no-brainer. “I always had a great relationship with him. It’s about trust. There are a lot of people who are great at what they do, but you don’t know if they have your best interests. My whole career has been built around those people who are like family to me. I knew who Matt was as a person. If the chips were down, he’d be in my corner,” offers CAL. “When I was teasing the song, there were a lot of people reaching out. But Photo Finish has surpassed every one of my expectations. Creatively, it’s such an excited group, which is refreshing. I’ve done the label song and dance before, quite literally, and they’re big and you can get passed around to these people. The communication might not be there.”
Fans likely remember CAL as one-half of pop duo Timeflies, who announced their hiatus back in August 2019. Over the last year and a half, CAL has taken ample time to reflect and hone in on his songwriting and musical voice. He released his first solo project in 2019, an EP called The Identity Crisis: Side A, and while he’s certainly felt creatively fulfilled, he’s also paid a price.
“Obviously, it was a step back on every front. I’d become accustomed to releasing a song on YouTube and getting X number of views. So, there was a whole rewiring of how I view things,” he reflects. “The reason I wanted to do that was figure out who I was as an artist and what my sound was. All that stuff was really important to get to where I am today. I’m so proud of the music I put out. A lot of musicians may measure themselves in streams or radio, but I have to think about that as secondary.”
A Los Angeles transplant, the world is his oyster. “There’s a whole world out here in L.A. with co-writes and co-production. In 2019, I had really started to explore that and had fallen in love with it. Soon after, I found it was challenging, but it also opened up so many new doors.”
One of those doors was an online course taught by Rick Schmunk, professor at USC Thornton School of Music. CAL “just dove into the full course,” he says. Wanting to go back to basics in his craft, and “really learn” techniques in production, he began to see significant changes. “Finding myself as a producer has leveled up my writing, whether for myself or other artists. Creatively, I feel I was able to reflect during that time and unlock a part of me that wasn’t really there.”
“In the Water” samples what CAL hopes to be “a much larger project,” he teases. “With Photo Finish, this just feels like a completely new chapter. The last year and a half was laying the groundwork, and now it’s time to launch.”
Photo by Shervin Lainez
