Christina Ward – ‘Calendar’ [EP] [Album Review]

Singer-songwriter, guitarist, and banjoist Christina Ward’s music is simultaneously reflective, sad, and gently optimistic, as witnessed by her recently released album, Calendar.

Ward explains, “This album has much to do with starting over. I wrote and recorded most of it while I was going through a divorce, which made me recall all the times in my life that I’ve had to restart from scratch. Having fallen in love with someone and knowing it won’t ever really work out. But as with everything I write, it’s a mix of things past and present. Realizing a lesson I should have already learned is coming around again, full circle. Hoping that maybe I’ll get it right one of these days….”

Written, recorded, and produced by Ward, Calendar follows a string of singles and a duo of EPs, Rent and Humans, released since 2020. With each successive offering, Ward’s sound has evolved, from the banjo-laced dreamy folk feel of “South” to the complex axes of Calendar, infused with delayed acoustic guitars, hallucinogenic synths, and mesmeric melodies.

Comprising seven songs, Calendar begins with the title track, a tune about the very human habit of setting a date to begin again. A syncopated rhythm and edgy topline provide the matrix for Ward’s delicate, breathy voice.

Entry points include “Alone,” a floating, lysergic daydream of a song full of heavy, thumping percussion as kaleidoscopic sonic filaments slide by overhead.

“Spin so fast it pins you to the ground / Can’t get up to see the view / to see the span of nothing between you and I.”

A personal favourite because of its dark, throbbing washes of sound, “Time” pulsates with humankind’s mysterious relationship with the relativity of the space-time continuum. The rumbling harmonics give the tune brooding absorption, while Ward’s whispering vocals imbue the lyrics with insistence.

The dream-pop-like “Hiding” travels on lush, interlaced layers of leitmotifs as Ward’s soft, gossamer tones instill the lyrics with pensive timbres, connoting a deep malaise.

Suffused by Christina Ward’s luscious, ethereal voice, Calendar captures the pungency of journeying through the longitudes of life.

Calendar Track Listing:

1. Calendar
2. Alone
3. Time
4. Tonight
5. Cathedral
6. Hiding
7. Costumes

Run Time: 25:17
Release Date: October 21, 2022
Record Label: Mint 400 Records