It’s been long known that Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard fronts the garage band Calpurnia, rounded out by Jack Anderson on bass, Malcolm Craig on drums, and virtuosic lead guitarist Ayla Tesler-Mabe. They’ve played their share of gigs, including a notable one in Brooklyn back in January that our own Crystal Bell attended and called “a commanding debut.”
And perhaps of equal importance, they recorded an EP in the studio with Twin Peaks’ Cadien Lake James, a master of the laid-back but punchy sound Calpurnia is after. That EP is set to drop soon, and on Tuesday (March 7), we got the jaunty first proper single from it, a swaggering rocker called “City Boy” (co-produced by fellow Chicagoan Andrew Humphrey).
The four-chord saunter finds Wolfhard yelping and singing himself in a circle as the rest of the band backs him up with bluesy licks, handclaps, and plenty of background noisemaking. On the band’s Instagram, they wrote that they’re “super proud of it” and to stay tuned for more news coming later this week.
At that Brooklyn show, “City Boy” featured so much “soulful shredding” from Tesler-Mabe, Crystal wrote, that Wolfhard actually bowed to her when it was over. You can hear the groundwork for such guitar acrobatics on the studio version.
“City Boy” joins “Ralphie” by Post Animal — the band Joe Keery records with — as the second Stranger Things-related rock groove to drop recently. My only question is: When’s David Harbour‘s debut as the rollicking keyboardist in some greasy, wonderful bar band that only plays shows in Midwestern dives? I hope it’s soon, for everyone’s sake.
Be the first to comment