Immaculate Machine

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Immaculate Machine

Rock band

British Columbia's Immaculate Machine quickly gathered attention in 2005 when member Kathryn Calder toured and recorded with the New Pornographers. Calder's crossover was a natural: both bands recorded for Mint Records and toured together, and Carl Newman, a member of the New Pornographers, was Calder's uncle. Critics have also frequently compared the two groups. Like the New Pornographers, Immaculate Machine has helped rejuvenate smart pop music on the Indie music scene in recent years. "When it comes to a fresh, inventive approach to pop," wrote Jason Schneider in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record, "B.C. [British Columbia] bands seem to know things that the rest of the country doesn't right now."

But that comparison skims over the distinct qualities of both bands. "The band is trying to avoid playing up the connection," Schneider wrote of Immaculate Machine, "instead hoping their music's equal blend of intelligence and infectiousness will speak for itself." Beneath the shimmering surface, Immaculate Machine separated itself from the New Pornographers and other bands by relying on flexible harmony and serious songwriting. "They [the songs] don't quite fit the pop formula," band member Brooke Gallupe explained to Melanie Covey at Discorder. "And they're played with enough energy that it's not too light, summertime pop stuff."

Immaculate Machine formed in Victoria, British Columbia, in October of 2002, with keyboardist Kathryn Calder, guitarist Brooke Gallupe, and drummer Luke Kozlowski. Kozlowski and Gallupe grew up on the same street, and the two met Calder when all three were members of their high school's rhythm and blues band. Each member of the group sang lead and harmony, providing a great deal of versatility with arrangements. The band also adopted a do-it-yourself approach to its music, whether that meant booking its own shows or having a family member draw its cover art. "We've always been a big fan of doing it yourself," Calder told the Edmonton Journal. "It's the only way to do it in Victoria, where it's so isolated." Immaculate Machine borrowed its name from Paul Simon's "One Trick Pony." "There's a line that says ‘moves like God's immaculate machine,’" Gallupe told Covey. "And it sounds kind of nice. I think it's supposed to be ironic about human beings."

Immaculate Machine's first recordings were self-released in 2003-04. The EP The View included six songs and a musical interlude, and was followed by the full-length Transporter. Early in Immaculate Machine's formation, the band promoted itself by performing at unusual locations for little money. "Immaculate Machine's first performances were unpaid gigs in an obscure sports bar to drunken regulars (not recommended)," the band noted on its website. On one early tour the band borrowed a VW van, complete with a stove and refrigerator, allowing the band to travel economically. "One night we drove all night," Gallupe told Covey, "and we just parked on the side of the highway. And we woke up overlooking Lake Okanagan—it was so blue, and the sun was shining and there was a giant apricot tree right beside where we parked. So we just got out and ate apricots." Immaculate Machine embarked on lengthy tours of Canada to support both The View and Transporter, and their music began to receive airplay at college radio stations.

At the end of a six-month tour, Immaculate Machine stopped in Vancouver, the home of Mint Records, where the band auditioned and eventually signed with the label. The band released its second full-length album with Mint Records in the fall of 2005. Ones and Zeros would serve as an introduction for many fans. "Ones and Zeroes is evidence they're a band with great talent and promise," wrote Mark Deming in All Music Guide, "and they're already starting to live up to it; it's lovely and impressive stuff."

At the same time, Calder helped raise Immaculate Machine's profile when she played keyboards and sang on the New Pornographers' Twin Cinema in 2005 and filled in on several of the band's live dates for Neko Case. "The 23-year-old Calder must have known she had big scales to fill, and she did so admirably," wrote Kerry Miller in Spin. But Calder downplayed the comparison between herself and Case. "I don't think anybody could be the new Neko Case," she told Jason Richards in Now Toronto.

With the success of Ones and Zeroes and the attention Immaculate Machine had received from touring with the New Pornographers, the members decided to make a fuller commitment to the band's future. "I just quit school—well, I just graduated," Gallupe told Adam Radwanski in Canada's National Post, "but we've all decided to make it a full-time thing. Our moms aren't going to be happy." Touring with the New Pornographers helped introduce the band to a broader and more attentive audience. "I've noticed that people actually show up on time for my band's new shows opening for the New Pornographers," Calder told Richards, "which is pretty good. So we actually get to play for people." The band also issued Les Uns Mais Pas Les Autres, a six-song EP featuring French translations of songs from Ones and Zeroes.

In 2007 Immaculate Machine released Fables, its third full-length album, and once again the music revealed a band capable of delivering catchy melodies and diverse arrangements. "Fables is a richly enjoyable album from a band that continues to grow in exciting and pleasurable ways," wrote Deming. Adrien Begrand at Pop Matters concurred: "Fables is the assured step forward many of us had been hoping from the band, a consistent album with enough catchy songs to make the rest of the indie pop world envious." Calder also continued to record with the New Pornographers, performing on 2007's Challenges.

Immaculate Machine planned to follow its June release with a tour of the United States and Europe. While reviewers and critics have continued to compare Calder, Gallupe, and Kozlowski with the New Pornographers, each successive release has helped define Immaculate Machine as a separate and equally adept talent. "Until the next Porns pop masterstroke," wrote Brian Baker in Harp, "welcome to the Machine."

For the Record …

Members include: Kathryn Calder, keyboards, vocals; Brooke Gallupe, guitar, vocals; Luke Kozowski, drums, vocals.

Formed in Victoria, British Columbia, October 2002; self-released EP The View, 2003, and Transporter, 2004; toured extensively in Canada; signed to Mint Records, 2005; issued Ones and Zeros, 2005; toured with the New Pornographers, 2005; released Fables, 2007.