The Clientele - Best Band Since The Smiths

Just you wait -- the third album will be nothing but bad reggae and refried boogie and be produced by Glen Ballard.

well thank god this didn't come true!

New album tentatively coming out in October. Sounds like it might be their last.

I'll be bummed if they break-up after the next album. Feels like they had plenty of room to develop their sound, without losing what makes them special and charming.

The interview makes the record sound extremely promising.

"Sounds like it might be their last."

it's only "might", so ill stay poisitive bout it.

The only Clientele record i return to is Geomatry,really.great piece of music.
also, alsadir is underrated guitarist

...seeing them love made it clearer, to me at least.

The only Clientele record i return to is Geomatry,really.great piece of music. also, alsadir is underrated guitarist

Cosign. I return to all their discs, actually. Losing Haringey (from Geometry, I think) is one of my favorite songs of the past few years.

Since K Got Over Me is one I listen to frequently. Well, listen frequently to many of their tunes.

Alasdair MacLean: We finished mixing. We started recording in that really quiet period between Christmas and the New Year because we wanted to capture a deadening, spectral ambiance.

Ooh, wonderful - though why does Alasdair still look like a young Christopher Hitchens? And didn't he used to post here?

the new album has leaked, I was under the impression that it was meant to be a departure from the last couple but it isn't really. It's got similar bits to the last couple, not much from 'the violet hour' in it. not sure it is that great at the moment but I have only listened once.

they are getting more and more a regular Belle and Sebastian twee style band, and less and less the original,mysterious heartbreaking band they used to be.
maybe a break-up IS the right step for them after all..

It's a strange album. I was also expecting something more along the lines of the Violet Hour from how it's been talked about in interviews with the band, but it's much more a continuation of the last two albums. I still wouldn't say they're anything approaching twee!

Still, their albums always need time to sink in before I know what I really think.

they are getting more and more a regular Belle and Sebastian twee style band

Only to a very minor extent. The heartbreaking closer to the last album (Dreams Of Leaving) is quiet, but hardly like Belle & Sebastian. And the lead singer is still a great, fluid guitarist. But I'm bias. I love this band, and I'll probably overlook their occasional missteps.

Yeah, they're still my uncontested favorites.

Excited for this disc tomorrow.

ah, forgot about this. i was just given an itunes gift certificate and wasn't sure what to get. now I know!

BTW, I don't think this band gets enough credit for evolving their sound. Like R.E.M., their early albums were covered in a production haze and the songs were painfully humble; gradually, the albums became more clear and distinct, and the songs became more robust and confident. Then they added new moods and textures (especially on God Save The Clientele, which was much happier, in places, than they'd been before, and which had a broader range of instrumentation).

But even if they stayed with the same sound and didn't evolove at all, I'd be okay with it, so long as they continue working in that particularly wistful, nostalgic vein.

i agree this band is probably a textbook example of how to successfully evolve a sound without alienating one's audience.. while i'm sure there's someone who prefers their earlier, lo fi reverb soaked days, it's not a complaint i've actually heard levelled against them

There's even more progression of their sound on the new disc, e.g., less string arrangements, more prominent use of horns, a Latin-flavor to some of the guitar work, their nosiest song ever (Sketch), and some of their best, clearest vocal harmonies ever.

It's another lovely autumn album.

their nosiest song ever

I love the heck out of The Clientele, but sometimes I wish their tunes would just mind their own damn business!

http://www.richarddaviesmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/the-clientele-letter-920x1024.jpg

I think the bass playing really carries this band.

that letter to richard davies is astonishing. more astonishing is the fact that richard davies appears to still be alive.

my fiancee sorta knows these guys IRL. i think they're pretty fantastic though i don't know much beyond 'strange geometry'.

My two favorite things about the letter are:

1. Even in Alasdair's letters it's raining. Truly, the man knows no hot summer days.

2. The deft way in which he leaves open the possibility that he didn't like Barbarians.

the original opening sentence in the letter had all sorts of references to puddles and bicycles and balloons but it just didn't flow.

saw alasdair yesterday in his amor de dias incarnation and they were probably the quietest band i've ever heard.

also this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yo_Gabba_Gabba!

I love Bonfires On The Heath, better than God Save The Clientele... Perhaps it's the same level as 'Strange Geometry' was.

i did them injustice seven years ago. it must have been the singer's soft voice which didn't appeal to my younger self. or maybe i confused them with another band. i have eight songs by them on my ipod and at seven of them are good. their music evokes three notions in me. the expression "it is raining cats and dogs", the buzzcocks title "harmony in my head" and a fairy tale in a forest with a rainbow rising over the trees of a clearing.

at least seven

Bonfires On The Heath completes a nearly-flawless run of five albums.

it is a real beauty. i have this and the new espers lp on my shuffle and they compliment each other perfectly for droney autumnal rambles. it does remind me of the violet hour in tone more than any of their other efforts, only with added disquiet and creepiness. and less hiss.

solo session on wfmu: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2009/11/alasdair-maclean-of-the-clientele.html#more sounds lovely. w/o the rest of the band his guitar sounds quite Robyn Hitchcock-esque in parts.

New album is kinda disappointing.

That's been the mini-review for every album since the Violet Hour.

finally heard the newie.. it's good, inasmuch as the sound is there and the quality is consistent, but tbh it does feel like treading water. if this is indeed their last album it's certainly not a bad note to go out on, and probably the right one.

i'm loving this record ...

never paid much attention before to this brian o'shaughnessy chap who produced the last few clientele records and am surprised and rather pleased to see he's produced a shitload of stuff i like..

it's their last album?

they kind of hinted it would be unless it goes triple platinum.

what i'd kind of be interested in if they wanted to shake their sound up a little is a more guitar-heavy kind of thing -- i love the rare occasions when alasdair lets loose with a psychedelic guitar solo ... maybe that's just me ...

yeah i love it when alasdair does that too. it happens live quite a bit, wish they would do more of that on their records.

two acoustic gigs tomorrow:
http://www.theclienteleforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=160&sid=dd369aa0e556d3015c19847011eedb8a

they better tour the US again before they break up, I've had to miss them every time they've been here.

That "we're going to break-up" line sounded fairly noncommittal to me. Maybe I'm hearing what I want to hear.

I hope they stay together. Best since The Smiths? Hard to say. But what a band.

" hope they stay together "

i think an Alasdair solo career/in different, new band could be great change too.

Yeah, that's certainly possible, too. Change can be good, I suppose.

here's his side project, which might even be *mellower* than The Clientele http://www.amordedias.com/

cause, y know, it will be hard for The Clentele at this point not to repeat themselves imo, and personally i'd prefer a change
xpost

I am really looking forward to the Violet Hour reissue show in St Pancras Old Church (small, v atmos, v picturesque).

Jealous!

I only had one opportunity to see em, back when they were touring God Save The Clientele - it was great but a Violet Hour-themed show would be blissful

Their initial original-trio reunion for Chickfactor was also magical since they similarly focused on older material.

Yeah all the things they couldn’t make work with Mel (eg and especially my +fh’s favourite The House Always Wins)

haha, every London show Tim mentions breaks my heart a little, I'd love to see them do a Violet Hour-focused set in a church! I can't really complain though, I've seen them play in London, NYC, LA, San Francisco, Houston, and Austin.

I should mention Chickfactor show is also where I bought an original The Violet Hour vinyl copy from them for $15!

that was a great little festival because Amor de Dias also played!