The Clientele - Best Band Since The Smiths

which of course i see now is made clear on his blog, sorry.

Alasdair used to post here in the early part of the decade.

I've read that before, but I've never seen one of his posts.

(Can't remember seeing one, at least)

I love the new album, but still hold out hope that they'll decide to record an album-length Ariadne EP.

after liking each album before this one more than the previous i can't get to grips with this one. it is clearly their most accomplished record but it isn't all that likable to my ears. they used to be the model of economy but this is luxuriant in comparison and yet maybe that's merely covering up their weakest set of songs.

really? i feel like God Save is more "lush" than the new one -- but maybe that's not quite what you mean. And "God Save" -- even though I love it death -- might be the only Clientele that verges on self-parody a little bit. This one feels more natural to me ...

I can see that. Still, sometimes I think the last song on God Save -- Dreams of Leaving -- is the best traditional song the band ever released (I say "traditional song" because I think a non-traditional spoken-word piece -- Losing Haringey -- is the best thing the band ever released).

self parody might not be the right term -- again, I love that record. Maybe it just has a somewhat lighter touch than other stuff by them?

Xposting a bit. I too was really thrilled when I saw them live, (relatively) kicking out the jams, and it completely changed the way I think about about them. Maybe the ultimate "soft" band who ought to cut loose more often. "Never Anyone But You" from the new one is as close as they're probably going to get to a "What Goes On" and it's fantastic.

The Robyn Hitchcock comparison above is interesting, especially given the totally Hitchcockian line "There's a phantom in the space between my bones."

"gaps" not "space." Shouldn't go by memory when drinking...

maybe 'luxuriant' or 'lush' is the wrong term, perhaps I meant 'busy'. it seems the rest of the band had much more to do with how this one sounds, I could just be against democracy.

re: Hitchcock, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if Alasdair didn't name him as an influence, but I do think there's a similarity at times in the guitar style and the kind of magical melancholy vision of England both of them have going on ...

(i didn't know alfred hitchcock played the guitar!)

there's footage of the tiny acoustic lexington gig up on youtube. i was sat downstairs minding the coats...

oh goodness Strange Geometry is still soooo good. "Spirit" is divine. I guess I should get the new one. I've been listening through their whole library again over the last week or so, and Strange Geometry stands out (though they are all wonderful): these songs are taut, as though they were trying to play Motown songs, lovely but concise, with nothing to spare.

yeah, it is a wonderful record,especially during the winter -- just listened to it a week or so ago. the songs kind of seem simple and hummable on the surface, but when you start paying attention they're sometimes super complex!

I just listened to God Save The Clientele for the first time in ages, and it is a letdown after Strange Geometry. Well, it leads off well, but "Isn't Life Strange?" kills the momentum. And I think I get the earlier remarks about self-parody. Take "The Queen of Seville". The sound is gorgeous, but the lyric is empty, and actually kinda lazy, Clientele-by-numbers: pick a geographical location, make it kinda "olde England" by invoking royalty. And then the song is goes on about being lonely.

I'll get the new one, though. I just looked at the album art and it's gorgeous! It's an Archimboldo! I keep running into Archimboldo paintings lately, prob. b/c artistic references like that are more common coin in France; my kids just got an Asterix comic book with a parody of an Archimboldo painting in it. I guess kids here know that kind of thing? The painting in question hangs in the Louvre (I saw it a few weeks ago), so maybe it's not unreasonable for kids here to get that kind of reference. Well, that's the painting in the comic; I'm not sure where the one on the Clientele album cover is from.

much as i love strange geometry, it had the distinction up to now of being the only clientele record i could say with any certainty wasn't my favourite. it is strong, has a strident, television-y kind of clarity, i can see why it's regarded by many as their best. god save the clientele, on the other hand, is just flawless, victoria street aside. i like the new one an awful lot but it does suffer by comparision a little.

I kind of agree with this ^^^^, even tho Losing Haringey is my favorite Clientele song.

I also agree with cw, never got on with Strange Geometry.

is alasdair's side-project (amor de dias) still happening? no news since mid-2009, and since then there's been the announcement of a new clientele "mini-album" coming later this year.

i love the idea behind this side-project, btw. clientele vibe plus a tropicalia vibe could yield beautiful music.

I was wondering when that Amor de Dias album was going to turn up as well. I had the impression it was already completed and just waiting to be released, though. The new Clientele EP is, according to a post on their forum, mostly material from the Bonfires on the Heath recording sessions deemed good enough for release. There's a West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band cover, and I see "Jerry" is on there as well, which is a much older Clientele song (and a good one!).

i just asked alasdair via twitter about the amor de dias record, haha. i'll let you know what he says!

thanks! i guess this "tweeting" thing has its uses.

Have been struck lately by how much "My Own Face Inside The Trees" sounds almost like a Moles song. That organ bit is very very Untune The Sky-ish. Also love the way the song suddenly shifts, after the first two verses. Very Davies...

got a tweet back from alasdair about amor de dias: "hey - we're at mixing stage, so when that's done it depends on who will release it, and their schedules. I think next year for sure."

Thanks for the update! However... next year? Cry cry cry.

minotaur is really lovely.

just started listening to 'bonfires' this week. thought it a bit samey at first but certain songs are starting to reveal their magic ('Jennifer and Julia').

yeh i've started listening to it again too with the onset of autumn, it does have a very specific mulchy mood. minotaur is generally a much sparklier, breezier affair, though there is a real undercurrent of menace to it.. the new recording of gerry is particularly good.

new ep is really good. jerry effectively blends the group's trademark-sound with a much harder-edged guitar break.

so hoping the ep means they aren't breaking up.

minotaur is just $1.99 at amazon.com (mp3). hadn't gotten it yet, but am listening now -- sounds great.

air turned colder this morning. the clientele sound great right now.

^ Yes! The ultimate Fall band.

been listening to their latest album today. bonfires on the heath, never anyone but you, jennifer & julia sound perfect now.

listened to bonfires on the heath last week for the first time in a while. had written it off to some extent as their weakest effort, but i was wrong! pretty great record. still need to get around to that amor de dias record ...

beginning to think BOTH is one of their strongest records.

ah, yes it is great and back in rotation, thanks for the reminder.

Bonfires on the Heath and Never Anyone But You are fantastic. Waiting on the box set...

i'm just hoping they keep recording together as a band. (unless yr aware of an impending box-set?)

one of the cliente's best moments, and saddest songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpDu37hhKVg

an amazing string of albums.

just wishful thinking about a boxed set.

merge should do a suburban daylight vol.2 / louder than bombs / bubblegum perfume style affair of the previously uncompiled singles & eps, interspersed with those long droney/spooky instrumentals/collagey bits, there's an instant classic double album right there. it would have to have 6am morning rise on it though, thats the deal. and paul verlaine. and all of the lost weekend and . what a band.

they've got a fair number of odds and ends I think are worth compiling, mostly covers (Where the Universes Are, for example), but most of their latterday singles are taken from their albums.

I really cannot overstate how great the Amor de Dias album is, especially if you dig Bonfires on the Heath.

"Emptily Through Holloway" is my jam lately.

circling back to losing haringey, one of my favorite sad songs of the past decade.

I listen to them in the summer when I am dreaming of cooler weather, then when cooler weather comes, I listen to them again.

i need to get the amor de dias lp pronto

yep, lost weekend is tops. it's the violet hour in miniature.

i'm not sure how sad losing haringey is though! i have fond memories of listening to that last world cup in the sweltering heat when i lived down the road from green lanes, where those strange little weeds grow...

it makes me feel deeply, sadly nostalgic for my youth.

i miss this band.