The Clientele - Music For The Age Of Miracles
(Merge)

Singer and songwriter Alasdair MacLean of The Clientele was able to find a new foil for the first LP of new material since 2010’s Minotaur. In fact, it was an old collaborator from the earliest days of The Clientele. Anthony Harmer had played with MacLean in the early 90’s but they lost touch. They got re-acquainted when they happened to move to the same neighborhood. Harmer had been studying eastern stringed instruments such as the Saz, a kind of Slavic instrument similar to the Turkish Baglama, as well as the Santoor; an Iranian dulcimer.
It’s Harmer’s contributions and arrangements for those instruments that make up the key facet to this new Clientele LP, Music For The Age Of Miracles. It adds a mystical and worldly aspect to songs like “Falling Asleep” and the pointedly melodic “Lunar Days.” The Clientele have always occupied a space of pastoral beauty and lush atmospheres while regularly penning strong melodies just as their contemporaries Belle and Sebastian have always done. That strength is well on display here with the heavenly stringed accompaniment on “Everything You See Tonight Is Different From Itself” and the autumnal meditation from “Everyone You Meet.” You’d think that a new selection of stringed instruments would crowd-up the songs but it seems to have the opposite effect. “Constellations Echo Lanes” feels like it has more room to breathe yet still retains the sort of dappled glow that much of The Clientele catalog retains while MacLean’s lyrical imagery is in perfect lockstep on tracks like “The Circus” and “The Neighbour.”
Another beautiful addition to the well-aged catalogue of The Clientele and perfect for the fall. (Dom)
Check out a track here.