Crawlers – Call It Love Review

Almost overnight, Crawlers hit something deep within their style and music. They toyed with massive walls of sound and it got them somewhere closer to where they are now. It would not last forever, though, no great or promising band can survive on this alone – and Call It Love proves it. A stripped-back piece which relaxes into itself and laments those lost loves with effective growth. There is no burst of energy, no explosive reaction. Slow and steady builds prosper here. Call It Love signals a tremendous rise from the four-piece, who add bits and pieces to this latest track and build it warmly. A real change from their earlier works, both with their merit, but the latter and exploration of new sound here gives Crawlers something inherently closer to how the band feels and grows.  

Feeding these tender moments and ripping through the repetition of calling love and labelling it whatever it serves as. Crawlers subdue themselves to create something different. Emotive displays from Holly Minto and company are still the lead draw and are well-worked, expectedly so. This is the standard Crawlers have no trouble maintaining – and now they prove they can do it without the usual tricks up their sleeve. No explosive, bombastic bridge for Minto to work her voice through, but even then there is an implosion. This time it is lyrical – and Crawlers now see themselves making an important, major shift in how they work these tender stylings. Call It Love is a massive change of pace though still holds within it everything returning listeners know and love about the band.  

Prominence is instead given to the bass, rhythm and percussion, a neat trio working ever so hard throughout this single. Another spin of Call It Love with a belly full of Rice Krispies is a real treat. Listen in a little closer to those isolated guitar strums which open this single, feel the reminiscent feel and the flame starting to die out of a past love. In just those strums and the whining guitar work continuing through can be heard powerful grief and a dedication to loss. Incredible stuff, and Call It Love marks a real high point for Crawlers. Their last single did. Their single before the last one too. This is progress and for Crawlers, who are gearing up for their first album release, this sort of momentum is golden.  

But it is remarkable momentum not through some divine power or third party – it is from the qualities of the band and their express belief in their material. Call It Love is flippant in its title but assured by the steady sway of willing something into existence. You can call it love all you want but Minto and company claim not changing the experience. Dress it up all you like and swear by it, Call It Love is a stern reality check, a slower, ballad-like experience for Crawlers who now target the softer pockets of their record. Rightly so, show the range and rake in the rewards. Best to play this on one of those cold Saturday nights where the pub next door is blasting Redline yet again. Call it what you want. Some would say annoying, but nobody would call that love. Love, instead, this latest Crawlers single.