Malis­sa Lara

One could eas­i­ly be con­fused by the un­usu­al type of mu­sic com­ing from 12 the Band, but it cap­ti­vates those look­ing for some­thing out of the or­di­nary. The band's mu­sic seems to be a mix of so many gen­res, but band­leader Shel­don Hold­er says it is "ur­ban al­ter­na­tive ca­lyp­so mu­sic." "It is built on the premise that through­out the ages, ca­lyp­so has been rep­re­sent­ed in the mu­sic that ex­ist­ed in the world at the time," Hold­er said.

In ex­is­tence for ten years, the band has in­trigued au­di­ences with their unique style, which Hold­er calls "mu­sic for above the waist­line."In­deed the songs tell dif­fer­ent sto­ries, whether about love or about the dai­ly strug­gles of life, caus­ing one to pon­der for a mo­ment. One of their videos for the song Pros­per shows by the use of an­i­ma­tions, every­day life, hit­ting home for view­ers.

They have al­so al­ready be­gun the launch of their al­bum Streets and Av­enues. "Hey av­er­age man, I wan­na hear your point of view," the ti­tle track plays. Hold­er says he's look­ing to the streets, to the av­er­age, every­day man to find the av­enues.

"It's mu­sic you can lis­ten to out­side of Car­ni­val," he said at Al­ice Yard, last Wednes­day.

"I feel our mu­sic is be­com­ing like a mask to for­get our­selves," Hold­er said.

He said it took two-and-a-half years to pro­duce the al­bum.

While Hold­er strummed a typ­i­cal ca­lyp­so beat it flowed with his al­most vo­cals. "I wan­na feel the re­al con­nec­tion on a stronger foun­da­tion," he sang.

The al­bum

The 200 al­bums, each a col­lec­tor's item in the shape of an or­gan with the words "Ex­pand your heart and mind" writ­ten on it, ex­pand when air is blown in­to it. So oth­er than lis­ten­ing to the al­bum, it's al­so meant to be some­thing en­gag­ing.