Chris DeLine

Following a brief musical introduction Clara Salyer opens Total Babe’s six song EP with the welcomed sound of her voice. Her gently slurred verses are slightly elevated over the guitar, drums and organ throughout the song, allowing her distinct hum to immediately make an impact. And even though I can’t really tell you exactly what she’s singing at all times, the effect of the collaboration of sounds within the song is one that is serene and full of warmth.

When I was in high school I essentially pissed my days away. I hated classes so much that I opted to take part in an apprenticeship where I trained to become a chef; hey, beats chemistry lab, am I right? But even at that, I really had no personal outlet, and spent my hours outside of the kitchen trying to find some sort of high to give me a feeling that I can only imagine the members of Total Babe have found through their music. At their age (as I’m writing this it just dawned on me that writing such a statement as “at their age” is bound make me sound like the oldest 26 year old alive) I would have given a lot to have just been around a group of people making music of this caliber, let alone have the patience and drive to focus on music as an outlet myself. At the age where I could typically be found passing around the peace pipe and watching the clouds go by the members of Total Babe were rocking TV commercials in Germany. As envious as I am, I’ll be damned if those clouds didn’t seem like the most interesting things in the world at the time.

“Gary Coleman,” the song used in the ads, allows a playful guitar line to bounce atop Lizzie Carolan’s violin, resulting in a blissful harmony that is aided by a handful of auxiliary instruments throughout the song. Whether it be the whistling that is repeated throughout “Shape Up,” or the rolling chorus of “Short Stories,” Heatwave has a consistent lighthearted feeling of airiness throughout—I mean that in the best way possible. Had I not searched out information on the band, I would have never guessed that the songs were created by a group of musicians so far away from the presumed age, and even upon discovering that I still find it a bit hard to believe. I dread saying something along the lines of “they’re playing music that is mature beyond their years,” “Total Babe is the next big thing,” or “you’ll be hearing about them a lot in future.” And I won’t. But if someone were to say any of those things, I wouldn’t disagree.

[This post was first published by Culture Bully.]