D.A. Calf certainly doesn’t lack ambition. A former member of the bombastic Mousemoon and now playing in Single Twin, the singer/songwriter/composer has crafted a dense, layered first album under the guise of The Book Of Ships.

Fixated on the previous century and adorned with many black-and-white photos to prove it, Dark Continent, Cold Century was recorded in a one-time Newcastle bowling club with Calf producing. The press kit mentions Mercury Rev and M83, and while there’s no denying the dreamy grandeur of this record, it doesn’t sound like any other band. In fact, ranging as it does from introverted to epic and dance-y, it doesn’t often sound like the work of a single act.

The album is bookended by some ghostly music run backwards, first in the minute-long ‘A SML Love Song’ and later in a brief epilogue trailing the last song. In between, Calf jumps between intimate ballads that are opaque at best and unlikely indie rock anthems sporting high-flying choruses. It’s no surprise the latter grabs us first.

‘Flying In Dreams’ features dramatic guitar, expansive drums, arching vocals and a stirring climax; ‘…Aagh’ is smoothly propulsive; and ‘Push/Pull’ is tense with muffled, stop-start drumming. The single ‘Broken Glass In My Mouth (Words Are Lines That Turn To)’ emerges as the catchiest song despite the awkwardness of its title and this refrain: “Bombs getting dropped on those open fields but I’ve not woken up.” The mid-tempo ‘Fruits Of The Earth’ is noticeably Brit-pop.

The slower songs include the blissed-out instrumental, ‘Cause Nothing Can Stop You Now’, and the final three tracks: ‘In & Out’, a sort of soft-rock ballad, which features whispered vocals; ‘Bile + Vitriol’, another heartfelt sentiment cloaked in artifice; and closer ‘Keep Ur Blues’, which summons the influence of Antony Hegarty (who’s cited in the press kit). Calf sings in an androgynous falsetto over piano and a bit of brushed cymbals until another wide-screen climax with rock drums and guitar.

Calf doesn’t do everything himself here – Alexander Evan Knight plays drums and various guests supply bass, organ and synth – but Dark Continent, Cold Century has the feeling of coming from his deepest, most sincere emotions. And yet, even with a lyric sheet to guide the way, the album is beset by a fog of vagueness that never lifts.

by Doug Wallen