Calista Garcia / Animal Magnifique
The reviews are in for Calista Garcia's freshly released, ‘Animal Magnifique’ and like us, the critics are all a bit blown with away with this 10-track masterpiece.
" Listening to her, for me, is like discovering a Sheryl Crow or a Joni Mitchell, with her signature voice and super compelling songwriting, and it wouldn’t surprise me if she breaks onto the scene as a national treasure”. -PRISM REVIEWS-
‘With this release, Calista Garcia reaffirms her place among today’s most compelling indie voices, planting a flag on the edge of the wilderness and daring us all to join her there. It’s thrilling, visceral, and utterly unmissable. – THE INDIE GRID-
“This album feels like a bold step forward, and honestly, it’s a masterpiece I’ll keep coming back to.” - CHEERS TO THE VIKINGS-
"It’s one of my favorites of the year." -OLDGREYCAT BLOG-
A crazy talented artist just entering that sweet spot of their young chaotic adulthood, where, if so gifted, the juices flow, channels open, and timeless art thrives. That’s what this album sounds like. Every iconic artist has one or two such efforts that define their career. We suspect that with the 24-year-old Calista Garcia, we may be in store for more than a few.
If you follow the Tak site, you know the story. Calista got her first Takamine for Christmas at age 13 and immediately began to write songs, lots of them. We first featured Calista In the spring of ‘20 when we declared her a New Classic, again in the Summer of ‘21 when she Changed the World for You, and once again in the Summer of ’23 when she hit the beach with Flowers in My Hair.
Her current acoustic of choice is an EF341SC from Takamine’s timeless Legacy Series. The dreadnought cutaway is featured in, “Spookshow”, the intro to “Entertaining Children in Wartime” and layered into “Clara de Lune”. Perhaps the 341’s biggest contribution to Animal Magnifique is evident in this 2022 You Tube clip of Calista sharing the newborn version of what would become the album’s title track, giving us a sweet peek into Garcia’s creative process, and what can result from a conversation between a gifted songwriter and their acoustic guitar. As you can hear, the final track evolved considerably.
The best part of this business is being anywhere around, or playing any supporting role possible, in sharing the music of gifted artists like Calista Garcia.
