Graham Reid | | 1 min read
This London-based ensemble around singer-songwriter Alasdair MacLean, bassist James Hornsey and drummer Mark Keen wooed and won Elsewhere with their God Save the Clientele of 2007 which was one of our best of the year picks for its charming, whispery pop.
Their even more pastoral Bonfires on the Heath three years later was equally seductive.
There's always been an understated baroque-pop element to their work with strings augmenting their gorgeous melodies.
As with so many British bands however, they have barely made a ripple in this country.
This is only their ninth album in a career which began at the dawn of the Nineties but they make up for that by delivering a wonderful double which floats from dreamy pop to fuzzed-up, downbeat growling rap, and that's just on Garden Eye Mantra. From rhapsodic melodies to the feeling of a night stalker in four and a half minutes.
Here too are slivers of poetry read by Jessica Griffin (of Would-Be-Goods), their lovely string-coloured folk-pop (Lady Grey), horns, a move into more angular rhythmic patterns (Dying in May with mournful cello, think Beatles '66-'67), a piano nocturne . . .
The Clientele are one of those bands – like Belle and Sebastian, perhaps -- that you hear once and if they win you they are yours forever. Or a band that sails right past you.
This double – which opens with an eight and half minute piece with some gorgeous vocals in Spanish – might be the finest of their long career so if you are part of the latter crowd this might be your time.
This is certainly the album.
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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here. While you are their check out their back-catalogue
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