Manish Kalvakota With Charles Douglas

Outer Limits is a reunion of sorts for Manish Kalvakota and Charles Douglas, who used to be in Vegetarian Meat together in the mid-’90s. Since then, both have continued to record by themselves although Douglas has worked with the likes of Maureen Tucker (from the Velvet Underground) and Joey Santiago (from the Pixies). Despite both names appearing on the front cover, this is very much Kalvakota’s show with his characteristic voice taking the lead on ten out of 11 songs. The music sound is gentle guitar pop that sounds a little like Luna, although both artists add enough of their own personality to make Outer Limits a very well-rounded record. Kalvakota also managed to add some Indian influences on some songs (in the form of tabla and sitar) in a way that doesn’t make those tracks stick out like a sore thumb — it just adds some an additional dimension to the shimmering guitars that adorn every song. Outer Limits is a subtle, understated record that will end up appealing to most people who hear it — it just needs to find that larger audience and therein lies the problem.