Post by lildevil92 on Aug 23, 2007 19:00:13 GMT -5
Been awhile since i done a CD review, but it's been awhile since i came upon an album of such beauty and greatness.
It's a little difficult not to hum the melody to "Daydream Believer" during the opening of "Here Comes the Phantom", the first track from the Clientele's third full-length album. The chords bump against those of the Monkees classic without mimicking them precisely; it's not what is played that sounds so familiar, but how, as the piano moves with a whimsical bounce that evokes someone dancing in a brightly-lit studio with walls the color of a television's test pattern.
And when Alasdair MacLean begins to sing, it's like all the rain that fell during the first 50 or so songs the Clientele recorded has finally given way to sunlight: "April in my mind, but I can't sleep/ So I took a walk around the trees/ And what did I see?/ Summer waits in the leaves/ As lovely as I've ever known." We hear of cops picking flowers while walking their beats and a heart that plays like a violin. We've been introduced to a new Clientele world. But it's not all golden shafts of light: "Happiness just comes and goes," MacLean sings to finish out the verse.
Listening to God Save the Clientele I keep thinking of how, through their first two albums, various EPs, and the godlike singles collection Suburban Light, the Clientele seemed defined by a certain kind of thoughtful stasis. They were the band that to casual observers sounded the same from track to track, employing a handful of production tricks and a slightly larger handful of lyrical themes to articulate a rich and complex world informed by magical realism, memory, and the ache of nostalgia.
For good or ill, this uniformity seems to be slipping away. God Save the Clientele sounds like the work of the same band, but it shows them in a new, brighter light, broadened in both sound and outlook. In terms of sonics and tunes, these changes are welcome and logical, expanding upon the sound with which they made their name without sacrificing intimacy or risking coming across overcooked.
Highly recommended for anyone who loves Indie Pop, Twee, or just can't seem to get to sleep easily.
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Track Listing:
1. "Here Comes the Phantom"
2. "I Hope I Know You"
3. "Isn't Life Strange?"
4. "The Dance of the Hours"
5. "From Brighton Beach to Santa Monica"
6. "Winter on Victoria Street"
7. "The Queen of Seville"
8. "These Days Nothing But Sunshine"
9. "Somebody Changed"
10. "No Dreams Last Night"
11. "Carnival on 7th Street"
12. "Bookshop Casanova"
13. "The Garden at Night"
14. "Dreams of Leaving"
It's a little difficult not to hum the melody to "Daydream Believer" during the opening of "Here Comes the Phantom", the first track from the Clientele's third full-length album. The chords bump against those of the Monkees classic without mimicking them precisely; it's not what is played that sounds so familiar, but how, as the piano moves with a whimsical bounce that evokes someone dancing in a brightly-lit studio with walls the color of a television's test pattern.
And when Alasdair MacLean begins to sing, it's like all the rain that fell during the first 50 or so songs the Clientele recorded has finally given way to sunlight: "April in my mind, but I can't sleep/ So I took a walk around the trees/ And what did I see?/ Summer waits in the leaves/ As lovely as I've ever known." We hear of cops picking flowers while walking their beats and a heart that plays like a violin. We've been introduced to a new Clientele world. But it's not all golden shafts of light: "Happiness just comes and goes," MacLean sings to finish out the verse.
Listening to God Save the Clientele I keep thinking of how, through their first two albums, various EPs, and the godlike singles collection Suburban Light, the Clientele seemed defined by a certain kind of thoughtful stasis. They were the band that to casual observers sounded the same from track to track, employing a handful of production tricks and a slightly larger handful of lyrical themes to articulate a rich and complex world informed by magical realism, memory, and the ache of nostalgia.
For good or ill, this uniformity seems to be slipping away. God Save the Clientele sounds like the work of the same band, but it shows them in a new, brighter light, broadened in both sound and outlook. In terms of sonics and tunes, these changes are welcome and logical, expanding upon the sound with which they made their name without sacrificing intimacy or risking coming across overcooked.
Highly recommended for anyone who loves Indie Pop, Twee, or just can't seem to get to sleep easily.
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Track Listing:
1. "Here Comes the Phantom"
2. "I Hope I Know You"
3. "Isn't Life Strange?"
4. "The Dance of the Hours"
5. "From Brighton Beach to Santa Monica"
6. "Winter on Victoria Street"
7. "The Queen of Seville"
8. "These Days Nothing But Sunshine"
9. "Somebody Changed"
10. "No Dreams Last Night"
11. "Carnival on 7th Street"
12. "Bookshop Casanova"
13. "The Garden at Night"
14. "Dreams of Leaving"