Suburban Light

Clientele

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 24, 2001)
• Original Release Date: November 28, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Merge Records
• ASIN: B00005AWNE
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #130,657 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Picture Galaxie 500 tackling Nick Drake's Bryter Layter under the heavy influence of Velvet Underground ballads. Now, place it in the context of a misty early morning: the sky turning a dark blue, the neighborhood still asleep, your thoughts unusually clear and vivid. Such is the rarified, intangibly gauzy mood the Clientele evokes; indeed, it's no accident that the words "rain" and "morning" show up in so many of their song titles. This London-area trio has been following its own low-key path for a few years now, recording a series of hard-to-find 7-inch singles and compilation tracks for small labels in Europe and Japan. March Records compiled four of the best songs on 2000's A Summer Fading EP, and the full-length Suburban Light includes most of the remaining tracks, throwing in a few previously unreleased gems for good measure. Many of the songs follow a certain atmospheric template, led by Alasdair MacLean's keening voice and echoey, shimmery guitar. However, the Clientele is careful not to fall into a rut, shifting moods and sounds just often enough to always keep things fresh. You will hear hints of the Zombies, Go-Betweens, and prime New Zealand pop in the more up-tempo tracks, such as "Rain" and "From a Window." You could easily get lost in Suburban Light's layers of reverb and reflection. This is a CD that begs repeated plays. --Mike Appelstein

Product Description
Every once in a while one hears a rustling in the bushes. A buzz if you will. All your friends are talking about this 7 inch they found, and how this band is going to change the world, or at least has already changed theirs. Such is the nature of the organic groundswell surrounding London's The Clientele. These three British lads create an enchanting sound that is haunting, fragile, sublime and somehow strangely tragic. This version includes 3 tracks unavailable on the import only CD (these 3 tracks will replace tracks released in the U.S. on the A Fading Summer EP), 'What Goes Up', '6am Mornin gside' and 'From A Window'. 13 tracks.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SPELLBINDING, August 20, 2001

By	Gregory R. Sollars "115thdreamer" (Sherman Oaks, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Try to imagine the Velvet Underground covering the Beatles, or something like that. This record is my favorite album since 69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields, which is saying alot in my book, since I think "69" is a work of genius. The Clientele create absolutely beautiful, evocative pop songs that combine the dark, minor-key beauty of Lou Reed's finest VU ballads with the melodic sense of Lennon/McCartney. How else to explain "Rain", which cascades over a dark, reverb-y guitar line only to have singer Alasdair MacLean reveal a chorus of "and I want you so bad, in my heart". MacLean, also the songwriter, has a voice that slips in and out of falsetto, often in the same song, all the better to accompany the gorgeous ebb and flow of the music. He also crafts detailed lyrics, painting pictures with his words like few do anymore - there are abundant references to specific days of the week, climate conditions(it's usually raining - they're from the UK, right)and a mysterious "Mrs. Jones" keeps popping up. But, in the end, it's the music, of course, that grips you. Although only a three-piece, the band creates a lush sound on slower tracks like the gorgeous "Reflections After Jane" as well as the more upbeat "I Had To Say This". If you like your pop a bit dark and moody, but still tuneful, this is right up your alley. The whole record sounds like it was recorded in a glass house encased in ice, and I mean that as a compliment. Note: there are two versions of the record out and about, a U.S. version and a U.K. version. The U.S. version replaces three songs from the U.K. version with 3 previously unreleased tracks("What Goes Up", "6AM Morningside", "From A Window"). This was done because three songs on the U.K. version("An Hour Before The Light", "Saturday", Bicycles") had already appeared on the 'A Fading Summer' EP along with a fourth track called "Driving South". The best way to get the entire Clientele catalog is to get the U.S. version of 'Suburban Light' and then go out and get 'A Fading Summer'; this way you're covered. The UK version of the album is better, but the three new songs on the US version are good, and you don't want to be without "Driving South", which is stunning. Still, with either version of 'Suburban Light', you are assuring yourself a blissful pop experience.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm depressed but this helps, February 15, 2005

By	John Galt "John Galt" (Roswell, GA United States) - See all my reviews

Hello, i'm just your regular college student. I go to class, I come back home to my mom's, I don't do much. I do my studies, I hang with friends, but mostly I sit in my room alone thinking about how much I love living. I like listening to this album.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars beautiful retro pop without the implied pretensions, September 16, 2001

By	el dangeroso (Asheville, NC) - See all my reviews

Like so many other foreign, melancholy and vaguely acoustically oriented bands, The Clientele have been unfairly compared to Belle and Sebastian and lumped into it's corduroy sporting retro-folk brigade. Perhaps a more reasonable comparison would be to eighties stalwarts The Go-Betweens, with some similarities to forgotten brit poppers The Trash Can Sinatras, and still others to New Zealand's pop inflected Flying Nun posse. Awash in shimmering guitars and plaintive vocals, it's easy to imagine the rain gathering in sheets on the London streets as Alasdair Maclean penned lyrics about junebugs, lonely mornings, and the ever present (at least in Rock music history) Mrs. Jones. More firmly footed in a retro sound than most other bands outside of the Elephant 6 combine, The Clientelle invoke The Association and the softer Kinks moments, as opposed to The Elephant collective's seemingly unending passion for the rambling trappings of Syd Barret and The Thirteenth Floor Elevators. The only minor flaw in this otherwise gorgeous record is Maclean's voice and it's habit of wandering endlessly around a song's hook, stumbling and trying to hit the right note before weakly retreating. For music so obviously intended for soaring harmonies and brilliant melodies, it can try your patience much like rooting for The Cubs to win the world series. You want to see it, you're sure it will certainly happen eventually, but elusively enough, the moment keeps fluttering away.