Cal in Red is the musical project of Michigan based brothers Kendall and Connor Wright. Their other brother Cal is the namesake of the band and always the first to hear, and or critique, anything his brothers are working on. I imagine he was rather pleased when he heard their brand new single, ‘Act Like’. The indie, synth-pop tune is a dreamy, smooth and honeyed little number. Undeniably and unashamedly influenced by heavyweights like Tame Impala, Beach House and MGMT, Cal in Red follow up on the success of their previous single, ‘Zebra,’ with yet another absolute cracker! The band’s talent and signature sound hasn’t gone unnoticed, and they were recently snatched up by B3SCI Records, who will be putting out their debut EP in the near future. We at Indie Top 39 can’t wait to hear it, and get the feeling that it may be something quite special!
Dreamy, melodic, nostalgic. We’ve fallen hard for ‘Act Like’ and the Wright brothers!
INDIE TOP 39
What does the song mean to you?
Lyrically, it plays out almost like an over acted drama. There’s an internal monologue that seeks to excuse a lack of success or failure to achieve. It’s those anxious thoughts that kill ambition, or just getting to where you should be. On the other side there’s a counter argument or someone prompting accountability, “Act like no one knows, I do, are you really sure you want to try and lose?” Basically saying, I see what you’re doing, I know you, and I know you’re trying to throw the game or self sabotage to the point of loss.
Tell us about your creative process and how the song came to be?
Connor: I had actually just watched the movie Drive for the first time and loved the heavy synth based soundtrack. After that I immediately found a cool patch on my Juno and started playing this bouncy riff that eventually morphed into ‘Act Like’.
What are your favourite lyrics in the song?
Kendall: I think our favorite lyrics are the ones that were written dead last. The outro was added as we were finishing up recording and the lyrics sum up the song as a whole nicely:
“It’s everything you let it be, running from what’s already here,
You think you might, you think you could, I bet you’re right, I think you should.”
What does success mean to you?
Kendall: I think we both felt pretty successful as soon as we came to the realization that our music was touching people all around the world, many of whom we’ll probably never even meet. Success is pretty subjective, and I feel like we’re both pretty content people. As long as we continue to enjoy making music, and that music impacts people positively, we’ve already succeeded with Cal in Red.
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Now you can listen to all the 39 songs in one place, right here on Spotify!
This coverage was created in collaboration with Musosoup as part of the #SustainableCurator movement.
