erasing clouds
 

The Clientele, God Save the Clientele

reviewed by dave heaton

I saw the Clientele play last year, and for an encore they played "Saturday" – I'd forgotten how powerful that song is. It's instantly transporting, not to a particular place so much as a particular feeling. I was struck by how it's the song itself that's transporting, not atmosphere created in a studio. To me "Here Comes the Phantom", the opening track on the band's new album God Save the Clientele, is the same sort of song; I've been carrying it with me since I first heard it. But the key is, the pace this song takes you to isn't quite the band's usual mysterious melancholy, but something much brighter. It's the sound of guitars strummed upwards in a joyful style, the sound of eyes opened to the beauty of surroundings instead of the eerie-ness. "And what do they see / summer waits in the leaves as lovely as they've ever looked / happiness just comes and goes," Alasdair Maclean sings. Note the "comes and goes", plus the reference to "the phantom" – sadness and uncertainty aren't completely gone, and neither are the other staples of the Clientele's music: dreams and ghosts.

There's perhaps more references to dreams here than ever, or at least to sleep. But these dreams are of the gentle, mystifying variety…more mysterious new loves than figures lurking in the shadows. "Isn't Life Strange?", one gorgeous (and rather McCartney-esque) song is titled; the album is possessed with that questioning tone, with a so-this-is-how-things-are-going-to-be feeling of realization. "Wonder" is a good word. There's a glow about these songs, even when loneliness and longing are what's being conjured (as on the exquisite "The Queen of Seville"). The changing seasons are present in several songs: perhaps we're hearing that moment when one season abruptly changes to another, when everything feels suddenly different, and odd, but nice for it. Or the change is within us; as another song title puts it, "Somebody Changed". There's a sense of possibility, of waking up: or "a sense that everything still lies in wait," as Maclean sings during "No Dreams Last Night." This is more of a pop turn for the Clientele, with the Beatles' presence especially noticeable within the typical Clientele sound, but also other new styles and genres peeking in. "No Dreams Last Night" and "The Queen of Seville" are kissed by Nashville, by steel guitar. "Bookshop Casanova" is playfully 'disco', with big choppy guitars and a dance beat. "Winter on Victoria Street" takes that 'up' guitar style and adds especially striking vocal harmonies. But the album also continues the refinement of the Clientele's sound from release to release: impeccably arranged strings are everywhere, along with harmonies and melodies that will follow you through your dreams. Fittingly, the album signs off with a soft, sad lullaby-like goodbye about night and day, dreams and reality. "I've got to go, it's nearly morning," Maclean sings. Not to worry: these songs won't be leaving your brain anytime soon.

{www.mergerecords.com}


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