Gee, I must love you guys, giving you a special preview of a review that I have drafted for this weekend's Otago Daily Times. The album in question, Clayhill's Mine at Last is an absolute gem and a must buy for anyone who has not found anything musical to get inspired by recently. Anyway, here is the review, please feel free to comment on it as you see fit.
"If I was to string together the marketing blurb stuck to the CD Case into a coherent paragraph or two this review would pretty much write itself. Yes, the UK music press have been fawning all over this release. Is it that good? Well yes, yes and hell yes.
Formed in 2003 from the remnants of Beth Orton’s backing band, Clayhill are yet another U.K. act exercising some subdued acoustic chops alongside some relatively gruff vocals, but they just do it so damn good. Budding songwriters take note, the melodic hook comes to the fore in almost every track and the fine bass/keyboard playing just accentuates the mood rather than overplay it.
Second track Suffer Not is lush; the rich lyrics seem to reveal something new with every listen. This is the great thing about Mine at Last, on a cursory listen it sounds like a mixture of great background tunes for a dinner party. Then, something happens. You sit bolt upright, as the songs demand your full attention. The furniture seems to fade into the background; the speakers become the room. Track four, Hector’s Laugh is a gem; it layers a dreamy groove to a crescendo that comes to an unexpectedly abrupt halt, stunning.
The sound has been described as parts Gomez and bits of the Beta Band, but closer to home I can detect hints of Trinity roots and that is no small praise. There are so many mood swings and emotional moments on Mine at Last that this album fits equally well soothing a sore head as it does preparing one for the big night to come.
This is deep heavy music but not in the power chord stakes. The vocals of singer Gavin Clark (ex Sunhouse) are throaty and sometimes mumbled but always compelling. Indeed, his previous band Sunhouse was brilliant but went largely unnoticed by the fickle U.K. press. Melancholic moments mirror the winter gloom outside, but rarely has being miserable sounded so good. This is a stayer and I’m equally sure it will work just as well as the soundtrack for the summer."
Rating: 4.5 stars
2 comments:
Lovely. Just bought it. The following is not meant to be damnation by way of faint praise, but it was gorgeous in the background while we talked about matching shots! Please blog your music video development... it sounds like fun, and shooting grannies is probably not a good option...
Mwahaha
Will keep you up-to-date with how the music video is coming along. I'll see if I can post some frames from it on this blog or even a small clip. Glad to hear that you like the Clayhill album, genius.
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