With years of musical experience as the guitarist of the Hollywood gothic underground sensation Willow Wisp from 1991 to 2015, and years of real-life experience from being a homeless addict to sobering up and being a certified alcohol and drug counselor, Portland-based artist Erik Dee Fulmer unleashes his creativity through his musical project Air-Ik. Taking advantage of the spare time while being locked down through the pandemic, Air-Ik started releasing his music and he never stopped since then and today, we’re going to review his remarkable take on Blondie’s song “Call Me”.
On this cover Air-Ik took Blondie’s classic “Call Me” to a new level, by down-tuning its melodies and groove, he managed to hit the breaks on its bright groovy sound and injected some heavy gothic vibes into its core, and as the slowed-down electronic drum intro introduced Air-Ik’s heavy-pounding sound, the verse introduced his dark approach. While Air-Ik’s guitar work sets the song’s tone and sound shifts as he smoothly mixes open sound melodies among his dense smokey riffs, the vocal melody adds lots of depth to those thick fuzzy riffs, its diverse expressive delivery, and how it progresses from a deep seductive tone to a powerful harsh one controls the song’s dynamics and cements its dark sound giving “Call Me” the proper, well-arranged twist.
“Call Me” is a bold cover by Air-Ik that shows his unique point of view, good sense of melody, and clear direction. His choice of such a cover and how he organically wrote it says a lot about Air-Ik’s will of experimentation and creative mind that I’d love to dig deeper into, looking forward to more, cheers, and keep on rocking!
