Total Babe

It’s not often I get to come home to find a Total Babe waiting for me. But today was an exception. Thankfully, the nice people over at So TM sent me a new EP by Minneapolis Indie Pop band Total Babe and I haven’t been able to stop listening to it since. The band formed when lead singer/guitar Clara Salyer was given the opportunity to open for Red Pens. So Clara brought in two friends to perform alongside, Lizzie who plays the Viola and Jordan on Guitar. Tim the percussionist joined a few month later.

What’s surprising about Total Babe is how young they still are(Clara recently turned 17) but how much depth they’ve created in their music already. Clara has found a way to blend teenage innocence and maturity in her lyrics which sets Total Babe apart from other bands. The lo-fi style of the music also really accompanies the lyrics and gives them an endearing quality. The best thing you can say about Total Babe is that everything just works. The songs, the lyrics and the composition all compliment each other.

Total Babe’s debut EP ‘Heatwave’ is out now on So TM Records and was produced by Chris Heidman and Jeff lorentzen, who together play as Ultrachorus and run So TM Records. So hats off to them for a great spot and great production. Heatwave is a late entry, but most definitely one of the must have records of the year. Check out their MySpace for more info. Heatwave is available to buy now.

Anybody see Total Babe at CMJ???
If you did please send me an email and let me know what you thought. Shaun@rocksellout.com - rocksellout.com

On the lead track from Total Babe’s upcoming debut EP, Heatwave, vocalist Clara Salyer coos, “Right now I feel more than just a kid.” It is an understandable notion coming from a sixteen year old whose young age is belied by the deep well of talent she commands. When So TM releases their EP on October 6th, the world is going to be treated to a charming band brimming with talent and immeasurable promise.
Heatwave traffics in the sort of nostalgic indie-pop perfected by foreign acts like Niza and La Buena Vida, rooted in 1960s harmonies and just the right amount of twee adorability. Salyer and her two high school-aged bandmates (guitarist Jordan Gatesmith and violinist Lizzie Carolan) have produced a set of tunes whose catchy hooks and fleshed out ideas stand on their own, the age of their performers notwithstanding.
“Bear Bones” is a terrific example of Total Babe’s whimsical, addictive sound. Salyer’s vocals shine confidently over a bed of acoustic guitars, purring synths, perky keyboards, and Carolan’s elegant strings. Structurally, the song is bookended by two slower passages which serve as both a pleasant introduction and a mellow denoument, while the middle section is high-spirited and fluid. While the elements at work are simple, the entirety of “Bear Bones” is blessed with a gracefulness most bands will never come close to developing. With so much time ahead of them, the track is also a promise of future brilliance; however, there is no more opportune moment for becoming a fan of Total Babe than the present. - One Track MInd

Oh, to be young again...
I think I'll pass. Honestly, I'd rather scoop my teenage years from the extremities of my subconscious like the guts from a pumpkin. Anyway, I'd like to introduce you to something from high school that doesn't suck: Minneapolis' indie-quartet Total Babe. Lead by sixteen year old Clara Salyer, they bring the phrase “age is only a number” to mind. With their first release, the Heatwave EP, Total Babe prove there is some truth in that sentiment: they are playing at an Ivy League level.

Breaking the ice, “Bearbones” introduces Salyer's bright voice, illuminating an atmosphere of acoustic guitars, bubbly keys, delicate strings, and jaunty drums. As it illuminates, it also dims, but with never a vapid moment. Like an excerpt from her own diary, she reflects on her inner-workings; “Right now I feel more than just a kid,” which is understandable, coming from such a mature-for-her-age talent. “Bearbones” may be of your typical indie pop framework, but that doesn't hold it back from being the most gleefully-addictive track on the EP. Its competition, “Gary Coleman”, has many of the same structural elements, with the same alluring outcome. Salyer adorably slurs her verses, and though you can't always make out what she's saying, it only makes you want to snuggle up closer. Oddly enough, “Gary Coleman” was chosen for a commercial for German can company Balisto. Feel free to add a sweet pun for yourself.

“Short Stories” starts off as a slower country-folk ballad, in the manner of Jenny Lewis’s solo work. Part-way, it picks up with not-quite-overbearing cuteness, as Salyer repeats “oh me, oh my,” on top of surging acoustics, elegant strings nipping at its heels. That cuteness carries all the way through until the whistling “Shape Up”, dies down. There's a fine line between adorable and twee, and it's one Total Babe never crosses.

Listening to Total Babe is as rewarding as hooking up with a perfect 10, with the same realization afterward, that they're both moving onto bigger and better things. With their full-length scheduled to be released early next year, bigger and better is a safe assumption to make. - inyourspeakers.com

Total Babe's songwriter/guitarist Clara Salyer is eating scrambled eggs and toast for lunch. She is wearing a blue and green knit Minnesota Timberwolves hat, which is a key part of her wardrobe. Clara just turned 17. She has been studying music for years—specifically jazz bass, but creating pop music is her current occupation.

Total Babe's recently released EP, Heatwave, is breathtakingly accomplished, with complicated melodies and fully realized pop sensibilities. The songs are full of sweet sadness and sparkle. The music has a floating quality to it, like doing the backstroke in a clear lake while staring at the sky. Violinist Lizzie Carolan's ethereal melodies create the hue, while Jordan Gatesmith and Salyer's harmonies bring delicious boy/girl energy and pop jangle. They recently added drummer Tim Leick, one of the band's buddies, to the lineup.

In person Salyer is simultaneously awkward and all knowing, like one of the sisters from The Virgin Suicides, and has already captured the attention of fellow local musicians like Red Pens' Howard Hamilton III. "She has some really adult tendencies, but in the end she is just a kid still sneaking out, doing doughnuts in parking lots and TPing people's houses," remarks Hamilton. "It's really funny to watch it all unravel and come together."

We recently sat down with Salyer to discuss her love of music, her band, and her new record label (yes, she has one) over breakfast-for-lunch.

City Pages: You recently left your music high school. What turned you off of that?

Clara Salyer: I was happy I got to play music at school, but at the end of an eight-hour day learning things I wasn't interested in, I realized I could get an education later and do music now.

CP: And you are doin' it. You recently went to CMJ [the College Music Journal's industry fest in New York], right?

Salyer: I was going to go and see if I could sneak into any of the shows, and it turned out we could actually play, then my head kind of exploded.

CP: Tell me about your musical influences.

Salyer: For Total Babe, one of my big influences is Lou Barlow from Sebadoh. I heard the acoustic version of "Brand New Love" and that was the turning point—that song totally changed my life. Originally, I wanted to be a folk singer. I tried really hard to get a folk band together. If you play a guitar you have to have a folk band, right? But then I just started writing pop tunes and decided not to fight it. Over the last year—I really appreciate a song for what it is. I used to be a total music snob and I hate myself for it. But a good song is a good song no matter who writes it.

CP: And you have your own record label....

Salyer: It's called Personal Best and it's a part of Afternoon Records. They [Afternoon Records] are now doing more national things—that's cool, but the label was started to work with local bands and young bands. So he [Ian Anderson, the label's main guy] decided to let me and my friend Shane, who is in a band called the Shoe Shiners, start a subdivision to do that. Since we are young kids making music, we can look for other young kids making music. It's really rewarding, putting on a local show, attending it, and seeing people have fun.

CP: You do realize most 17-year-old girls don't have their own record label?

Salyer: Yeah [laughs]. I was like literally freaking out, peeing my pants [when Ian offered her the label]. We work with a bunch of local acts. The first record [by the Shoe Shiners] will be out in November.

CP: Is learning about the business side disenchanting, or does it get you psyched?

Salyer: Both. At first it was a little draining. The amount of work that goes into it lessens the romantic side. But I am really excited because I can do it the way I want. To have kids believe in you and trust you—everyone just wants to make good music and put out a record. I really didn't know how anything worked. I still don't know everything, but I do know the steps to get there.

CP: You seem to really know who you are.

Salyer: I am trying to figure it out. - City Pages

Minneapolis bunch Total Babe released their bloody ace 'Heatwave' EP a couple of weeks back, and '(Mission Hills Country Club Wall Of) Champions' is from it. I suggest you watch it, then buy the EP, and then hound* them to come and play in the UK very soon.
- NME

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. - Culture Bully