The Calculus, the musical project of songwriter Vivek Jayaram, have shared ‘Meet Me in Chicago’, the opening track from debut album ‘Guides’, out November 18.

The song comes from something that happened roughly twenty years ago, when meeting somebody online still felt a little unusual.

“About twenty years ago I met someone on MySpace, back when meeting someone online still felt new and a little surreal,” Jayaram says. “We spent months messaging each other before finally deciding to meet in Chicago for a weekend, and the song grew out of that experience.”

Chicago was an obvious setting. Jayaram grew up there, and he has always liked songs where the place itself becomes part of the story.

“I’ve always loved songs that make a city feel like another character, and Chicago has always been one of those places for me since I grew up there.”

Musically, ‘Meet Me in Chicago’ is one of the most direct songs on ‘Guides’. Jayaram was thinking about The Cars, Fountains of Wayne and Big Star while making it, with Wilco’s ‘Summerteeth’, and ‘Always in Love’ in particular, another reference in the studio.

“I was chasing the feeling I got from bands like The Cars, Fountains of Wayne, and Big Star: big melodies, ringing guitars, and a song that makes you want to roll the windows down.”

The Calculus began in 2017, although Jayaram had returned to writing songs a couple of years earlier after a long spell away from music. Early demos were recorded with Brian Leach in Chicago, and some of those songs were later revisited alongside material written during the pandemic.

‘Guides’ was produced by Jonathan Nuñez and features Emile Milgrim on drums, Steph Taylor on bass and backing vocals, and Cassandra Polarco on backing vocals. The album runs to eleven tracks and also includes the previously released ‘Palace of the People’.

For all the old references behind ‘Meet Me in Chicago’, Jayaram is really writing about the sort of memory that refuses to disappear completely.

“Even though it’s rooted in a very specific moment in my life, I hope it reminds people of that one person or one city they’ll never completely forget.”