C/D: the clientele

I don't know what to call these bands, like the Clientele, from whom you expect very little originality because of their micro-genre, but who make really good music in that micro-genre. I think that by the rules of the game they play the Clientele are a huge success.

Dream gig: Eric Matthews vox + orchestral arrangement + Clientele guitars, drums, bass, production, lyrics

eric matthews dresses nicely.

They're not very similar at all really.

both their full length albums are so fucking beyond classic. im not sure which is better, i'd say a tie. everything is perfect on them. the overall capturing of mood, the lyrics, melody, chord progressions, harmony, bass lines, drums. it is all perfectly composed.

They were much better live than I would have expected. You don't notice on the albums how good a guitar player he is, and likewise the vocal production slightly obscures how good his voice his.
-- dlp9001

i DO notice. he's amazing. I wish they'd come to boston so i could see them.

that said, i was a bit let down by the relict album...

I note that even a thread about Tim H's favourite band hasn't succeeded in making him post here again, sadly.

they sort of skirt the edge of self-parody with all the "mrs jones"/"rain" references. jess and i had a joke going about this once upon a time. jess likes them too.

Not quite - Innes (Relict main man) used to be in The Clientele some years back but not since I've known them ('99). It's true that the rest of The Clientele appear on Relict recordings.

Is it me, or does anyone else think that if someone took out all the upbeat pop songs off their all albums, took the remaining slower, sadder, melodic stuff off (e.g. As Night Is Falling, The Violet Hour, policeman getting lost etc.) and put it all one one album, it would be the best thing ever made? As opposed to just really good, of course.

i don't, but that's because i like the upbeat stuff better

I love virtually everything I've heard from them. CLASSIC.

what is the thing that is coming out on acuarela?

Suburban Light is one of my favorite albums of this decade.

Alright, my above comment was unfair. They have as much good upbeat stuff as slow stuff, and I really really hate to say it but they could have done with taking some of their songs off their albums. That is to say, they could have released some impeccable EP's, rather than really good albums.

Still love them nonetheless. I also thought they were a hip-hop group the first time I heard of them.

The Violet Hour is utterly flawless from start to finish. The only song I could possibly see being taken from it might be House on Fire but even if it seems like it could be removed I suspect the truth is something terrible might happen to that perfect, perfect record if you did.

always meant to check these guys out. this has piqued my interest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE2YCGxh31Q&feature=related

Nice article in the LA Times today:

http://www.latimes.com/theguide/music/la-et-clientele5-2010mar05,0,2867627.story

thanks for this article. it points out that i've been mis-pronouncing the band's name for years. i've said "cl I entele," but in fact it's "cl EE entele."

Well, if you're American, you would in fact correctly pronounce it "cl I entele," because that's how that word is pronounced in an American English dialect.

excited about Alasdair MacLean's side-project. his fluttery style of guitar playing seems a perfect match for this type of music. thus far, there's no samples of the group's output, unfortunately.

huh, does the English press really think they sound American? They're like the most British band in the world!

yeah, ^^^^^^ this.

Amor de Dias have samples up here: http://www.amordedias.com/

I got the impression that the British press didn't give a shit about them. I can't wait to hear that Amor de Dias album!

yeah i think they sound ultra brit. when i think of the american version of that folk informed chamber shit i think pernice bros.

totally dig those samples. thank you. any word on what label will release the album?

how is the new ep ?

It's not strictly the Clientele, and it's not quite six years since anyone asked me to post on this thread, but I'm proud to say I've been involved in releasing the first available Amor De Dias song, one of six songs on an EP. It's wonderful.

Details here: http://hangoverlounge.blogspot.com/2010/08/hangover-lounge-10-ep-now-available.html

(If you don't want to take my word for it - and frankly why should you? - we'll be streaming some bits and pieces from the EP on that blog over the next week or so.)

i'm incredibly excited to hear this. i'm also encouraged to read that the clientele are releasing a new EP in october, which suggests to me that, contrary to earlier reports, the last album may not be their last work together.

if i may ask, what's your connection to the clientele?

I'm just a long-term fan (and I hope friend) of the band!

My connection to the release is as one of the people who runs The Hangover Lounge every Sunday, but I won't bore you with that.

I note that mp3 copies of the new EP are to be given away free with tickets to the show in early September - coo!

Ordered it yesterday, looking forward to it arriving.

first(?) Amor De Dias release available to listen to here (for a while):

http://www.mergerecords.com/store/store_detail.php?catalog_id=792

liked the mp3 that surfaced a little while ago. kind of like charlotte gainsbourg fronting the clientele.

amor de dias are playing tonight in london for free, 18:30 at the national portrait gallery(!)

http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/late-shift-1/music-series-amor-de-dias1.php

for the quietest band on earth, i found this too loud (had only ever heard them unamplified before). the string sound was a bit harsh.

that said, they played in front of this and this

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw00166/The-Somerset-House-Conference-1604
http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw02079/Queen-Elizabeth-I-The-Ditchley-portrait

400 years old...

they play again tonight at the bull and gate - http://www.clubfandango.co.uk/gig.php?id=2062

bit of a comedown... 8)

that show tonight was supposed to be on a thames riverboat with laetia sadier on the bill, which wouldn't have been such a comedown. i like the amor de dias record a lot but i wonder what it's failure to set the world alight augurs for the clientele.

why should it mean anything? it's a side-project, that got little fanfare.

clientele were thinking of breaking-up anyway, IIRC. that would be sad. every record has been beautiful and moving.

Just got through 4 Clientele albums in a row on Spotify. They have a pleasant sound, but it seemed to me like every song was virtually identical in tone and tempo. Confused a bit by the strong love for this band.

they take a while to sink in. give the violet hour a few more spins.

Strange Geometry was the peak, imo

I'll give it another try today

can this be listened to during daytime hours?

I find sunset to the best time for it.

Strange Geometry is very strong, but maybe the most identical sounding? Their aesthetic is so gorgeous that the sameness isn't of as much concern to me. I've played them so often during beautiful, happy days that they are attached to those memories as well.

Their aesthetic is so gorgeous that the sameness isn't of as much concern to me.

totally! Strange Geometry and Suburban Light are my favourites. The Violet Hour never did much for me though, the songs (with the exception of 'house on fire') aren't particularly memorable.

They've got a couple of great ones off of Bonfires on the Heath. The title track and this one below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbnXFdR0f-o

I love the band but concur that a little Clientele goes a long way. Exception
may be "Suburban Light" which is so reverb soaked and nocturnal
sounding that it stands out from the rest.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/u9bHbwywrRc"; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Classic.

well that didn't work out - not quite sure how to embed. Sorry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9bHbwywrRc

just paste the url iirc

Kwhitehead otm. suburban light also has the best tunes by far, imo. I couldn't get into the stuff after that at all; pop without hooks, for the most part.

I always think of them as one of those bands that, if you fall under their spell, then almost everything they do is killer. At that point all the stuff people complain about - samey tone, instrumentation, and lyrical themes - becomes a feature not a bug.

I just did an interview with Alasdair MacLean about The Clientele and Amor de Días: http://lightoflostwords.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/an-interview-with-alasdair-maclean-of-the-clientele-and-amor-de-dias/

He revealed that they've finished recording the new Amor de Días lp (which he described as "probably the most atmospheric record I’ve ever been involved in") and that Merge Records will release it in January.

nice interview! love that amor de dias record, glad it wasn't a one-off.

quite confused about the two statements "it's quite different from the clientele and the first amor de dias album" and "it's the most atmospheric thing I've ever been involved in"

what about a new Clientele album?

Regarding new music by The Clientele, here's MacLean's statement about their going on indefinite hiatus: http://theclientele.co.uk/news/2011/07/see-you-soon-ish

wouldn't mind if they went in a kind of ariadne direction... that EP is gorgeous.

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing regarding Ariadne and the new atmospheric direction for Amor de Días. I think Lost Weekend is my favorite of The Clientele's eps, but all of them are wonderful.

i think theres a very distinct wintery ,spooked-out, hushed strand of the love of days which is i'm hoping the new one will follow. i wasn't wild about some of the tropicalia moments, but i think they have the germ of something that could be as great as, and very different to, the clientele.

"Share the Night" from 'That Night, A Forest Grew' is so great.

All the EPs are on Spotify...a goldmine

Share the Night is fantastic. The tempo is really up for the Clientele and it works really well. Retiro Park from the same EP is also superb.

new amor de dias record out in january. listening to a promo now, sounds lovely (but that's to be expected, right?).

describe it please.

it sounds exactly like the clientele

well, not exactly, still trading off lead vocals, still a bit more acoustic than the clientele, more of the bossa nova-played-on-a-cold-english-night vibe, but really, it could be released as a clientele album and no one would blink.

oh man, i can't wait...

still wishing someone would put together one of those lavish box sets for the Clientele

in the meanwhile, excited to hear about the new amor de dias.

if you can't wait:

http://blog.kexp.org/2013/01/22/album-preview-amor-de-dias-the-house-at-sea/

kind of love this album tbh

really digging this on first listen

Saw it in the store today, should have grabbed it. I figure there is no rush.

So much good news! Not only is the AdD LP really good, it seems the Clientele are going to be playing a show this year!
http://www.poprevo.dk/

I understand that it's a one-off (for now), but hopefully they will enjoy it and fancy playing some more, eh?

it does sound sublime on first listen. is there any way of getting hold of a copy without lashing out 10 pounds on postage from merge?

rough trade shops'll be getting some in stock, no doubt.

Yeah there'll be opportunities to buy it in the UK by and by (I'm hanging on for the time being rather than mail ordering) . Some talk of a full band AdD show, I hear. Not for a few months though.

When's it out over here? it's wintery perfection.

Not the full band show mentioned above (though news of that soon I hope) but Amor de Dias are planning a brief appearance in London on Sunday afternoon with their friends in the wonderful Hacia Dos Veranos (on whose last LP Alasdair could be heard singing "Draft Morning"). It's part of a weekend of stuff we're putting on, featuring a range of awesome talent! Details here: http://hangoverlounge.blogspot.co.uk/

If you're interested in Hacia Dos Veranos, and if you like the Clientele you might well be, we're delighted to be putting out their new LP any minute, details here: http://haciadosveranos-limay.blogspot.co.uk/ including Alasdair's review of the forthcoming record: http://haciadosveranos-limay.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/alasdair-maclean-reviews-limay.html

I'll be seeing them at Maxwell's in Hoboken!

this Hacia Dos Veranos is quite nice, thanks for the tip.

I went to Denmark last weekend and I saw the Clientele play for the first time in..how long? Not sure.

They were really brilliant. Back to a three-piece, and they played a real fanboy-bait show full of stuff they hadn't been playing as a four-piece. Some genuinely unexpected choices, going as far as "Dear Jennifer"! Personal highlights were "Driving South" and "The House Always Wins". Amazing. They seemed to enjoy themselves so maybe they'll play some more.

Meantime, my lot are putting on this Amor De Dias show in London a week on Sunday. The news is that it will be the full band show I've been on about for a while, and the band - as I understand it - will be Alasdair and Lupe, supplemented by James out of the Clientele and Howard, formerly of the Clientele.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z_5ihPluXH0/US6MUepX5CI/AAAAAAAAAo0/WQj5UpxeJtQ/s320/the+hangover+lounge+2013+05+26+copy.jpg

(Also featuring Hacia Dos Veranos as mentioned up there, and a rare show by the amazing Birdie. Come and say hello. Deets: http://hangoverlounge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/5th-birthday-party-starring-birdie-amor.html)

nice! i really like hacia dos veranos btw, i think i learned of them via this thread (or some clientele-y thread anyway).

oh haha, just scrolled up yes it was this thread.

http://chickfactor.com/2014/02/chickfactor-22-festival-of-pop/

Clientele original lineup!

Think "classic line-up" might be more accurate but more Clientele shows = great news; not going to be able ot make this but if they're half as good as they were in Denmark last year they'll be utterly brilliant.

I can't wait. Haven't been really excited to go to a concert in awhile.

I did see them in 2010 and they were fantastic!

yes! just bought a two-day pass. now to purchase airfare. the airlines should pay me for leaving austin during SXSW.

Ha! "See" you there both nights

Versus and Barbara Manning too! Super excited.

this is a one-off reunion, right (that is, the band's broken-up, except for this one gig)?

don't tease.

Only they know that for sure, but they have been inactive since 2010 except for that Denmark show tylerw described just above.

I hope there will be more shows, but I am not enough of an optimist to expect frequent shows.

they're releasing a 7" in that Merge anniversary 7" series... so they should probably have a couple new songs!

I already have warpaint tickets for the night the clientele is playing...torn

choosing clientele

Good choice. No offense Warpaint.

Who wants a free ticket to their show in Brooklyn tonight? Email me.

I chose warpaint. No offense Clientele.

You sure? Warpaint is still active at least. Not sure how many of these The Clientele will do.

so that was a pretty great show. heavily weighted towards Suburban Light/Violet Hour era Clientele, and the sound was solid too. Nice to hear The House Always Wins instead of Lamplight... hope it points toward new material but was very much worth the trip for me!

Oh man that performance was so magical!

Now I can say I've seen both versions of the band (latest/earliest) as I saw them a few years ago at Maxwells.

Makes me want to write songs all day. I'm going to buy a little notebook that I can take with me so I can write lyrics on the fly. I've already got guitar-lines worked out over the years that owe a lot to these guys so maybe someday I'll get this little mini dream of mine realized.

As a bonus I got to buy directly from them:

Since K Got Over Me 7"
Lost Weekend EP 10"
Violet Hour LP 12"

Evan, it's not a big deal but that wasn't the earliest line up of the band: they went through two drummers before Mark joined (between "Suburban Light" and "The Violet Hour" iirc) and there was the early four-piece version with Innes of The Relict.

they actually played "Southern Way" during the Amor de Días set on Thursday w/Pam Berry singing!

!! Blimey.

Oh, yes that's right. Didn't know about the four-piece version under that name though! xp to Tim

Amor de Dias was very nice too! Lilys set fell apart though... oh well.

hahaha, I thought the Lilys were pretty great! Never seen 'em before, and it kind of lived up to my kooky expectations. Withered Hand really blew me away though. I had no idea they were part of the Fence Collective, so the appearance of King Creosote on stage was pretty surreal. And great!

Yeah they issued a bunch of recordings from that four-piece line-up as a tour CD called "It's Art Dad" some years ago. (Having quickly looked at the CD it says '91-'96, personnel Hornsey Maclean Evans Phillips.)

And I too really love Withered Hand!

Oh yeah, the second Clientele song on Friday was "Dear Jennifer" from It's Art Dad!

Have you heard any Lilys records prior to the show?

oh yeah, their first two or three albums I listened to a lot, but a long time ago... In the Presence of Nothing, Brief History of Amazing Letdowns, Eccsame the Photon Band

Those are my three favorites!

I mean, it's always a treat to see a rare performance of cuts from your top 10 favorite records by the original artist, but the full band set from last year was much more faithful. When I chatted with him afterwards he referenced some equipment issues and other hiccups during rehearsal (on his own- I didn't ask!). But even as a beat machine backed guitar medley it did not gel. To the point my girlfriend and I were wondering if the sounds-guy (Jesse, I think) even knew the songs! He was part of the line-up last year though. All sounded great then!

hahaha, until I caught the chorus from Ginger I didn't know they were even playing songs... I just figured they had gotten really lateral since I stopped listening

As a bonus I got to buy directly from them:

Since K Got Over Me 7"
Lost Weekend EP 10"
Violet Hour LP 12"

― Evan

Did they have a lot of their stuff for sale? Have been after a vinyl copy of Strange Geometry since I got into them.

Yeah I was able to make out Claire Hates Me, Ginger, and Returns Every Morning. Other than that I can't remember or I couldn't identify it even at the time.

xpost

KP- those were the only older records they had. I was also hoping they'd have Strange Geometry!

That's still a good selection. I got Violet Hour late last year without having to pay a crazy amount for it. It's one of those albums that was just made to be played on vinyl.

Oh for sure

http://www.jazzhouse.dk/jazzklub/clientele-uk-1

Copenhagen in August sounds nice.

Copenhagen in August was nice.

ended up giving my tickets to a friend since I had to attend a wedding - but I hear it was nice :')

Consensus among the small collection of regular Clientele show-goers was that it went very well - sorry you missed it Niels. The band seemed to enjoy it also. I had a great time too, always a pleasure to visit Copenhagen.

(Progress towards a new LP also, I hear - apparently the songs are really very good indeed, though they didn't play any new ones this time, largely due to lack of opportunity to rehearse them properly.)

(Fantastic news!)

A new album would be absolutely incredible news.

Alasdair solo in London tomorrow night, I'm looking forward to it: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/360295

Thx for reminder, now I just have to remember it's tomorrow...

(Is John promoting this?)

I'm not sure; I bought tickets.

Same here. We're 14 left, now only 11.

Good! See you there.

I would like to go but considering the time difference I think the show is over already.

You've about 13 hours before it starts, that's still time.

(Although ilm is showing me a GMT time for my post and not a BST time so be careful you're not an hour late.)

Yeah you'll need to get a swerve on though, it's the getting from Heathrow to Kings Cross that'll take the real time.

I'll parachute in to avoid ground transportation issues. Just want to be sure I don't upstage him with the landing.

I'll just try to imagine how great it'll be from way over here in the US

will leave the actual comments on the gig to tim but facebook said 7, we got tickets said 7:30. doors were actually 7:45 and that was followed by 50 minutes of sitting and waiting which is dull if you're there on your own and it's too dark to read...

anyway, he's playing again for Daylight Music at the Union Chapel on Nov 5th. remember, remember...

https://www.facebook.com/events/1200135206704929/

It was delightful, Alasdair playing mostly CLientele songs we're used to hearing at full-band shows, from the slower end of things (Reflections After Jane, Saturday etc, the most upbeat was Since K Got Over Me), one or two we're less used to hearing these days (Bicycles, Bonfires on the Heath, Devil Got My Woman) plus an untitled new one: he didn't announce the title but it sounded like vintage Clientele to me.

Maclean fully reverbed up in an echoey church is a very reverby thing indeed.

We're a couple of covers too. Sid James and durruti column

(Not Sid James.)

Were. Bloody autocorrect.

Are there any other bands that exist that sound anything like the Clientele?

Legit question

I think maybe there's a thread for that? Or it's discussed upthread.

Recently I've gotten a similar vibe from deerhunter's fading frontier

But the short answer is no nothing

There's just nothing quite as sophisticated and tuneful. Melodic indie rock, even the more sonically consistent bands in that category like Real Estate don't seem to have the effortless complexity and even-handedness Clientele has. Everyone else is "trying" in different ways and Clientele never had to in the first place. Their music goes well with similar things in other categories, like charming old houses and pretty gardens, things that are undeniable.

Which Durutti Column song, koogs?

i was going to say Real Estate but their thing is a little different.

> Which Durutti Column song, koogs?

Is there more than one? The guitary one.

(I did recognise it but am terrible with names)

well, it was either the missing boy or the guitary one.

(Devil Got My Woman by Skip James was the other cover btw)

wow, i'd love to hear Alasdair's interpretation of that one!
my band has a song I wrote as a kinda clientele inspired thing, but i'm not sure if it actually comes across that way.

DGMW was on the flip of one of the strange Geometry singles iirc.

The Swedish band Cocoanut Groove had a bit of a Clientele thing going on for a while.

wow, i'd love to hear Alasdair's interpretation of that one!

There's a link to mp3s of a couple versions here that still work.

oh nice, thanks!

kinda jansch-y

I like the dreamy b-side version, but the KEXP one has its appeal too

reminder: alasdair's playing as part of daylight music at the union chapel tomorrow. starts at 12.

http://store.unionchapel.org.uk/about/events/5-nov-16-daylight-music-237-union-chapel/

New album and new song out, which sounds autumnally awesome to me!

http://pitchfork.com/news/the-clientele-announce-first-new-album-in-7-years-share-new-song-listen/?mbid=homepage-more-latest-and-video

aaaaawesome!

That is very exciting news. Love the title and the artwork.

fantastic... hope there is a North American tour with the new album

edit, guess I should have clicked through to the Merge website. Very excited to see that they're coming to the west coast in the fall.

niiiiiice, TO show on Halloween!

album's very good, i <3 "everyone you meet"

Has there been any discussion of the new album since it came out? I like it overall, though even after many listens I'm still having distinguishing songs from each other.

Discussion here:

The Clientele - Best Band Since The Smiths