Fans of Edmonton's Calvin Love might be a bit surprised when they take a first take a listen to his set at Newtown Radio's showcase. Atypical of what many might expect, Calvin arrived with a full band for his first outing here this past October. For those less familiar: to date Calvin's been a one-man lo-fi recording machine for restrained and synth-laden tunes that capture the restlessness of those wee small hours of the morning. The songs take on a new life with their new, full arrangement, and show how flexible well-crafted tunes can be. And even with the guitars taking the place of methodical synth they still retain the pervasive loneliness that's characteristic of Calvin's studio work.

Calvin recently put out the aptly named "Highway Transmissions" - a cassette featuring this Shea set along with some deep cuts and live tracks from the past seven years, available via Hit City USA. -LC