The Clientele
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| The Clientele | |
|---|---|
| Origin | London, England, United Kingdom |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Genres | Indie Pop |
| Labels | Merge Records Pointy Records |
| Members | Alasdair MacLean Mark Keen James Hornsey Mel Draisey |
| Past members | Innes Phillips |
The Clientele are a London-based British band with Alasdair MacLean on vocals and guitar, Mark Keen on drums, James Hornsey on bass and Mel Draisey on violin, keys and percussion.
The band have experienced greater success in the US, where they are signed to Merge Records, home of bands such as Lambchop and Spoon, than in their native Britain. They have conducted several extensive US tours.
Contents |
[edit] History
MacLean and Hornsey both grew up in Hampshire, England, and began collaborating musically while still in school, after MacLean saw that Hornsey had written the name of the band Felt on his pencil case. The band formed in 1991, with the current lineup along with Innes Phillips, who shared singing and songwriting duties with MacLean. The band recorded an album's worth of material but failed to get any label interest. Innes left the band (and would go on to found The Relict); the rest of the group re-formed in 1997, after which they moved to London and released a number of singles that were eventually collected on Suburban Light (2000). That compilation won the band glowing reviews; SF Weekly said the band "offers a brand of appealingly melancholy pop that might just surpass that of its forebears." [1] The Violet Hour (2003) was their first album proper, which again saw great acclaim, but, as yet, little commercial success.
August 2005 saw the release of their second full album, Strange Geometry, the first the band recorded with a producer, Brian O’Shaughnessy, who had previously produced Primal Scream. It was notable for a much cleaner production sound than the reverb heavy sound that had previously been their defining characteristic. Only one single, "Since K Got Over Me", was released from the album, which failed to reach the Top 75 in the UK. Another song from the album, "(I Can't Seem)To Make You Mine", was featured on the soundtrack of the film The Lake House.
Strange Geometry was quickly followed by a collection of recordings from 1991 to 1996, featuring Innes Phillips, called It's Art, Dad. A new album was scheduled to be recorded at the end of a US tour in August 2006, produced by Mark Nevers of Merge labelmates Lambchop. Its current working title is God Save The Clientele!. In 2006 the band also became a four-piece, after welcoming in Mel Draisey on violin, keys and percussion.
[edit] Style
Their music has often been noted for its reverb-rich production and MacLean's distinctive breathy vocals (an effect achieved partly by MacLean singing with a microphone plugged into a guitar amplifier) and jangly guitar playing. Their lyrics take a strong inspiration from surrealist literature and art from the early 20th century; "We Could Walk Together" quotes a line ("like a silver ring thrown into the flood of my heart") from a 1928 poem by French surrealist Joe Bousquet; the song "What Goes Up" quotes the poem "Stupidity Street" by Ralph Hodgson in its entirety.
[edit] Influences
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Suburban Light (2000)
- The Violet Hour (2003)
- It's Art, Dad (Recordings from 1991 to 1996) (2005)
- Strange Geometry (2005)
[edit] EPs
- A Fading Summer (2000)
- Lost Weekend (2002)
- Ariadne (2004)
[edit] Singles
- "Since K Got Over Me" (2006)
