“I just wanna hear you say ‘don’t go’…”

Based on the NSW South Coast, Caliko are a collaboration between singer/songwriters Vanessa Jade and Paul Greene. Jade wad first discovered by Kasey Chambers before being scouted by management team Winterman & Goldstein (Jet, The Vines, The Preatures etc). Since then she’s had a career working as a solo artist and then as lead singer/songwriter of Sydney indie band Hot Spoke,  who were signed to Mercury Records. Greene has an enviable list of credits both as a producer (incl. Greg Arnold, James Blundell) and as one half of Hirst & Greene with Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst.

The duo have released two singles over the last nine months and now I’m very pleased to be able to premiere the video clip for the excellent third single ‘Don’t Go‘. It’s a beautifully melancholic and wistful song that eases its way out of the speakers with a warm and soulful 70s Americana sound. The sparse and intimate late-night vibe paired with Jade’s superb vocal melodies immediately brought to mind Frazey Ford and The Delines.

The video finds the pair on a foggy late night drive around the streets of Nowra, the perfect visual aesthetic and atmosphere to complement the song.

“The song creates a lot of imagery for me, so I wanted it to suit that late night driving with a bit of tension,” explains Greene. “My camera was on a small tripod which was gaffa taped to the bonnet of my beat up 2009 Forester with the camera on remote. I just kind of had my fingers crossed that the camera wouldn’t fall off and smash into a million bits. We got lucky and it didn’t! Sometimes the risk pays off.”

“Ness is so expressive when she sings and it shows through her body and face just as it does when you hear her. She’s not wearing any makeup and we were just doing what we usually do, driving to gigs (or picking up / dropping off kids) and listening to ‘production demos’ of our songs, so it feels very much like us and honest, which is how we like our music to be.”

Catch Caliko on tour this August/September at the dates below.