It’s been a long time since Clock Opera featured on Breaking More Waves. Their last two songs In Memory and Changeling passed me by somewhat, but new cut Whippoorwill presses all the right buttons – and yet it’s very different from what the band have produced previously. Gone are the life affirming and supremely jubilant sounding pop songs that we heard on the debut album and instead there’s something that comes across as intimately sad. With it’s lyrics of a hole that ‘no fairground ride will fill’ and ‘a conversation scrubbed out on the page’, Whippoorwill is clearly about that most difficult of subjects that, as we get older, we all experience more and more; loss and the void of emptiness that follows. This is the sort of song that, because no words will suffice, it makes you want to reach out and give the singer a hug. Yet out of the darkness, there is something positive - beautiful music to colour in the black. Clock Opera are releasing their second album Venn via League of Imaginary Nations and !K7 on February 10th
“If indie carries on likes this, we’re gonna need a bigger landfill,” said Simon Price of the Independent of Clock Opera’sWays To Forget. “Predictable arrangements…. middle-of-the-road sentimentalism and lack of killer tunes,” said Drowned In Sound in their 4/10 review. The NME went even further in its 2/10 review: “If you’re vapid enough to buy into anything this pointless waste of a beard meows into his distortion pedal, you should probably never watch the film Up as you might find it a bit much.”
Yet to the ears of Breaking More Waves we hear something very different. This is a collection of songs that bristle and explode with euphoric climaxes over and over again. Maybe it’s the abundance of crescendos that grated with some reviewers, maybe it’s the way the record is carefully structured in an almost scientific way from spliced loops and live musicianship, or maybe it’s just that the NME reviewer had just been dumped by a man with some facial hair when they wrote the review.
Whatever it is that made some critics shake their head in despair we perceive as rather glorious. From the questioning lyrics that seem to deal with change, relationships and being yourself to the dots, dashes, chimes, beeps and circling notes of songs that drive relentlessly until they lift-off under the guidance of sonic lab-technician Guy Connelly, we find Ways To Forget a life affirming air punching listen.
This album may have been some time in gestation, Clock Opera first appearing on the blog in 2009 and being named as one of our Ones to Watch for 2010 but the wait was worth it. This is a tsunami of record. The critics don’t always get it right.
In the nicest possible way, Clock Opera have been around the block a bit. It was back in the olden days of 2009 when we first proclaimed “we love Clock Opera more than our own children.” The reason? Mainly because of this song – Once And For All, a jubilant life affirming piece of pop music that was inspired by a theatre show called Once And For All We're Gonna Tell You Who We Are So Shut Up And Listen. (Click on the link for the trailer)
Now two and a half years later Once And For All has been re-recorded and readied for release with this new video - an album finally follows in spring. If the test of the best music is time then Once And For All succeeds in every damn way. No matter how many times we hear it this song makes us want to stand up, punch the air and truly believe that 2012 will be incredible.
Watch, listen and make sure your ceiling isn’t too low when you feel your fist rising upwards in glory. Oh and it's OK, our own children still love us, despite our proclamations of having to take second place. They understand our obsession with music.
As we alluded to a few weeks ago, August is the period when Breaking More Waves traditionally slows down with its output and this year is no different.
We’re on holiday and when we return have just a few hours to spare before we set off to End of the Road Festival. Then after that we have a couple of days to return to the normal world before we set off again to Bestival where we’ll be bringing our DJ crew – The Sunday Best Forum Allstars to the stage for a right-royal knees up.
So between now and mid-September Breaking More Waves will be putting the brakes on. There will be no Music That Made Me or Saturday Surf features although there will still be the odd post now and then, just to ensure that the site doesn’t grind to a full halt.
In mid-September we’ll be cranking things up again, but for now, let’s enjoy summer, starting here with this – a new song from a long term Breaking More Waves favourite – Clock Opera. See you in a few days time.
To quote Jarvis Cocker, we’re currently ‘somewhere in a field in Hampshire,’ at The Good Weekend, a new independent festival. So this is a somewhat shortened Saturday Surf, rounding up some of the best new tracks that have appeared on line this week that we haven’t managed to dedicate a full blog post to.
Here are just three songs that we think your ears deserve.
Theme Park – Wax
Talking Heads. It was the obvious reference point that everyone jumped on when they first heard Milk by Theme Park and we were no different. However Wax, one of the two tracks that will feature on their debut single is utterly different. Released through ParadYse, (yes that capital Y in the middle is not a mistake) an imprint under Transgressive Records, Wax is a classy, very English sounding pop song with an infectiously mellow vibe and deliciously smooth vocals. It’s time to open the drawer marked Ones to Watch again.
Deepcut in Surrey is probably best known for its army barracks where four trainees died between 1995 and 2002, arousing significant media interest. Luckily Deep Cut the band has no association with the place, their affiliations being musical ones. We first mentioned them in a New Waves feature back in June and since then the group have played the BBC Introducing Stage at Glastonbury and are readying a single Something’s Got To Give for release. In the meantime this new track About Face has cropped up on line – a propulsive piece of old school indie for fans of bands such as The Joy Formidable, The Primitives and Lush.
Fresh from their Mercury Prize nomination, Metronomy get all shaken up by Clock Opera, a group that have become virtually Breaking More Waves residents since they first appeared here in July 2009. With an album from Clock Opera finally due to make its appearance later this year, we’re already wondering is there a chance of them appearing on the Mercury 2012 list?
Belongings by Clock Opera first came to us back in March (here) and with the single now out there via Moshi Moshi they have released a video to accompany the song. Starting with a slow rising gracefulness and ending in a kaleidoscopic explosion the video is a perfect visual accompaniment to the tune, following its structure and progression.
Belongings is a stimulating and rousing piece of work that is worthy of every ounce of praise we can load onto it.
Your next slice of Clock Opera wonderment comes this summer when the band play a small number of festivals, including Hop Farm, Wireless and Field Day. Early reports of their gigs gave descriptions of ‘shaky’ at best, but having seen them storm it earlier this year there’s no doubt that they have developed into a storming and powerful sonic machine.
We tweeted about it last week, but frankly 140 characters doesn’t do justice to Belongings, the new single from Clock Opera. One of the more intensely dramatic songs from the band’s current live set Belongings is out on Moshi Moshi on May 7. It continues to affirm why as far back as July 2009 we got pretty charged up about the music of Clock Opera and they haven’t disappointed us since. There’s something intelligent and unique about the way Clock Opera create songs – they don’t seem to be following any fashion, trend or media led scene – they’re leaders rather than followers, innovating rather than copying and through it creating something that is compelling and long lasting.
If Belongings were a bar chart it would start with the smallest of bars in black and white of piano keys before slowly growing with an upward trend of bigger and bolder bars that finally explode in an arousing concentration of colour. Belongings is reach for the sky, stately euphoric pop music. The band have been around for a while now, but with Moshi Moshi being a label whose every release rouses interest, Clock Opera could be about to step up one more gear.
Before this single another new Clock Opera creation will be available to buy on record store day (April 16) as the band have remixed Tracey Thorn’s You Are A Lover which is taken from the Everything But The Girl singers acclaimed current solo album Love And Its Opposite.
“No one cares about your 'best of 2010' list,” Josh Weller recently tweeted. He may be correct, but that won’t stop hundreds of the things appearing throughout December and Breaking More Waves isn’t going to be any different. We’ll be running down our top ten albums of 2010 from the middle of December – but before that, at the start of the month we’re looking forward and posting our annual 10 Ones to Watch for 2011.
Prior to looking forward, here’s a recap of our 2010 selections from last year.
Ellie Goulding
We said
“With her quivering girlish vocal, an acoustic guitar, neat lyrical phrasing and stuttering laptop electro beats, Goulding could deliver commercially.”
What happened?
Goulding delivered commercially. A number one album in the UK, two top five hits and two further songs that went top thirty, sold out tours - it’s been a highly successful year for Ellie Goulding.
“….threaten to bring an ostentatious, stern, eastern European look back into fashion for bands.”
What happened?
It was Europe that really warmed to Hurts, with the band enjoying charts success in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, Sweden and Finland and even an appearance on German X Factor. In the UK the band took a little longer to find their true audience, but by the time their album Happiness was released it achieved a very respectable chart placing of number four with mixed critical reaction (8/10 in the NME, 2/5 in the Guardian, 5/10 in Drowned In Sound, 3/5 in the Independent and most tellingly 9/10 by Popmatters), they also played one of our favourite gigs of the year way back in February at Wiltons Music Hall in London (here). By the end of the year they were playing sold out gigs, supporting the Scissor Sisters on their UK tour and next year are playing a tour of larger concert halls.
Beth Jeans Houghton
We said
“Quite where Beth Jeans Houghton will fit in 2010 we’re not exactly sure, but she has the voice and the songs to ensure that she can carve out her own space”
What happened?
Houghton toured with another of our Ones to Watch – Stornoway and played a string of UK festival dates. However she didn’t release any material. With her Ben Hillier (Blur, The Maccabees, Elbow) produced album now in the bag ready for release next year, Houghton can continue to carve her space in 2011.
Unicorn Kid
We said
“To the uneducated ears of an over twenty five year old or a solemn indie rock purist, the sounds of Unicorn Kid will just be considered bad music, but for his growing army of fans his electronic urgency is simply something that makes you happy.”
What happened?
In April Unicorn Kid released Dream Catcher a stunningly dirty, glitchy and energetic piece of work that became one of our favourite tracks of the year then followed it up in October with another track – Wild Life. An album is due in 2011 – it’s likely to make his growing army of hyperactive fans very happy indeed.
“It is for this reason we have selected them for our ones to watch list. Not because of musical uniqueness or commercial crossover, but because we can imagine Delphic creating a perfect indie dance summer vibe in fields across the UK.”
What happened?
Delphic didn’t achieve massive commercial success – their album charted at number 8 in the UK, but then quickly disappeared. However as we predicted their moment really came in the summer – their storming set at Bestival hit all the right spots (see our review here).
If a 2010 release from Clare Maguire arrives and it comes anywhere near the quality of those demos, we predict she could win a lot of fans.
What happened?
It took a while but finally in October Maguire released her thunderous debut single Ain’t Nobody, that found extra love through the heavily spacious Breakage Remix. Having played Latitude this summer and supported Hurts and Plan B on tour this autumn, Clare Maguire will release an album in 2011.
When Stornoway appeared on our ones to watch list they were still unsigned. After significant label interest they inked a deal with 4AD allowing them to open their suitcase and share their wonderful songs, releasing their debut album Beachcomber’s Windowsill. The album surprised many (but not us) by sneaking into the UK top 20 album chart. They ended the year selling out the 2,000 capacity Shepherds Bush Empire in London, a far cry from when we first saw them perform to a small crowd at the Wychwood Festival in 2009. On a more personal note, Zorbing and I Saw You Blink are two of our favourite songs this year.
Mirrors
We said
"The dense ambient pulse-pop of the Mirrors reflects the sounds of early OMD"
What happened?
Having signed a deal with their hometown label of Skint, Mirrors released the singles Ways to an End and Hide and Seek and played a number of gigs including support slots with OMD themselves on their 2010 European tour. The band will release an album next year and in the meantime have packaged up their early singles into a mini album which is available to purchase directly from Skints website.
“Her dreamily atmospheric guitar based songs are certainly not the kind of tunes that are going to infiltrate the pop charts, but provide for a smouldering and sleepy listening experience.”
What happened?
Miranda’s David Sitek produced album The Magician’s Private Library was seductively warm and as sleepy as a pillow and duvet set with titles such as Sweet Dreams, Every time I Go To Sleep and Sleep On Fire combined with even more shut eye lyrical content such as “Dreamt of you again last night,” from the slow burning trumpet laden Joints and “Wake up and you’re next to nothing,” from Slow Burn Treason.
Clock Opera
We said
"We love Clock Opera more than our own children."
What happened?
Clock Opera released a number of low key singles during the year including the transcendent Once and for All, toured with Marina & The Diamonds and hope to release an album in 2011. They remain one to watch.
Tell anyone that you’ve been to a multi band event or festival and the inevitable question you will be asked is this. “Who was the best?” It’s a question we hate because, like a long term relationship, we prefer to consider the sum of the parts rather than individual moments. The overall consensus from those attending In The City seemed to be that after being out in the wastelands, the 2010 event was fresh, focussed, re-energised and had re-established itself on the map. However, in order to explain why In The City was very good, to get the sum of the parts, it is necessary to review the elements that make up the whole.
We recently suggested that Clock Opera are never likely to write another song as good as Once and For All. On the basis of their In The City show we were wrong. Their last two numbers, the cataclysmic Lesson Number 7 and another tune of unknown title that started as a gentle electronic hymn and then grew into a snarling tempestuous beast were incredible. Lead singer Guy Connelly, dressed in a t-shirt emblazoned with keyboards, sang with leg trembling passion. The rhythmic digits of Piece of String were punctuated with the whole band bashing cans, jugs and other random implements to create an exciting crashing rhythm - it was no surprise to find that they were greeted with a loud cheer by the Roadhouse crowd, who included producer and potential pop king Starsmith. On the basis of the set, when Clock Opera get an album out, it could be a contender for a Mercury prize nomination – intelligent, interesting and unique.
Worship may be less original – there’s an obvious Radiohead comparison to be made, but their clattering drums, moody soundscapes and haunting beats which are defined on Collateral and song Three Wolves are still worthy of attention. Despite the bands surly atmospheric dark technoid-indie-rock sound there was a moment of humour in the set. “How are you?” their lead singer questioned. “How are you?” replied a member of the audience. The singer replied that he was a bit tired – it was a long way from their hometown of Reading. “Stop moaning,” someone else shouted. “I’m not moaning, he asked,” was the response, which raised a small ripple of laughter.
Over in the Mint Lounge Bright Light Bright Light did their very musical best to get cool music industry types dancing. Everyone one of Rod Thomas’s songs was filled with 90’s influenced synth pop joy. He’d probably hate us for saying it but D:Ream sprang to mind. Disco Moment with its Moroder throb and anthemic chorus and the soaring dance floor friendly Cry At Films were screaming for a handbag to shimmy round, bottle of WKD in hand.
A quick run through a couple of rainy, boozy streets found a small crowd watching starlet in the making Spark. In a past review we criticised the lack of emotional impact of Sparks songs, but there’s no doubt that her super confident strutting and striding pop works. Like Marina and the Diamonds raised on a diet of Rhianna, Spark owned the stage, prowling like a caged tiger. “This is a masterpiece,” she belted out. Although masterpiece may be an over exaggeration, she certainly knows how to perform a good pop song.
We first wrote about Glasser back in February 2010 and since then have noticed gradually increasing coverage, particularly on the blogs, about this mystical U.S performer. Glasser was like the new Enya it’s OK to like, or Clannad on dance pills, ghoulishly prowling the dry ice filled stage like a witchdoctor conjuring a spell, as tribal drums and icy Fever Ray styled electronic rhythms floated and ebbed through the room, gradually drawing people in to her lair. There was no in between song banter, just a precise execution of vibey music. Expect her slow build rise to continue.
Our final act of the day was Manchester’s Dutch Uncles. Despite taking the stage to big cheers from a now (drunken?) up for it crowd, and blazing through a fast paced set that included opener Face In, Fragrant and The Ink, the band seemed to have little of the class of any of the other bands seen that evening. Seen it all before writhing indie math pop got the better of us and sent us home to bed, after what had, as a sum of the parts, been an excellent In The City.
Once And For All We're Gonna Tell You Who We Are So Shut Up And Listen is a raw and powerful piece of theatre about the vital time of adolescence. It's the play that inspired Guy Connelly, leader of Clock Opera to write a song which he simply titled Once And For All. Of the play Connelly said “It made me remember exactly what it was like to be fifteen, and realise what has changed for me since. When you’re that age, there are some things you just know. You don’t ever expect to forget them, but you do. Watching the play made me wonder whether anything I am certain of now will disappear in the same way.”
Just like the play, the music created with this song is inspiring and life affirming, full of brightly lit beauty and rather like adolescence the chances are that Clock Opera will never again shine as brightly as they do with this song. If they do it will have to be something staggering to compete with the absolute majesty of Once And For All. This is no criticism of Clock Opera’s other material released to date, which is all of the highest order, but since July 2009 when we first mentioned this fantastic piece of music, it’s never been far from our stereo, like a teenage crush that has turned into a long term romance. Is it possible to marry a song ?
Last month we posted about the new Clock Opera single A Piece of String and presented a teaser video for it. Now you can listen to the whole track from the stream below. With A Piece of String Clock Opera have created a complex piece of music formed out of tiny spits of agitated sound and rhythm. It loops, clatters and skips around madly, but lead singer Guy Connelly caresses it all with his soft and amicably warm vocal; it’s a piece of music that is both innovative and engrossing. Much has been made of the term Guy Connelly coined himself to describe his production technique known as chop-pop, where he cuts and splices samples and instrumentation together, but this term makes his music sound rather mechanical and industrial sounding. The reality is that with songs such as APiece of String Clock Opera are forming miniature sonic symphonies that sound incredibly human.
At the end of last year we named Clock Opera as one of our Ones to Watch, stating that whilst they were not the sort of band that would be found storming the charts, they did have the potential to create inspiring sublime tunes that could provide long term satisfaction. A Piece of String is exactly that - a sensationally splintered song that you will return to again and again.
A Piece of String will be released on 7th June 2010 and the 7" vinyl can be pre-ordered here.
In our recent Camden Crawl preview we mentioned that chop pop specialists Clock Opera were due to release a new single - A Piece Of String - at the beginning of June. Before this, with every sharp popster from Hurts to Kylie Minogue to iamamiwhoami releasing ‘teasers’ of their new releases, Clock Opera do the same. As the new single is called A Piece Of String, this string art trailer is rather obviously suited. Watch the forty five second video below where veneer pins are stringed up to create the pattern / logo - the real thing must have taken considerably longer.
Today, a new feature. Besides bringing reviews of all the music festivals we attend this year, we will also be previewing them and selecting five acts for your perusal. First up - Camden Crawl 2010.
Camden Crawl is now one of the many one-wristband-multi-venue-multi-gig events that have sprung up on the UK music calendar. The first was way back in 1995. Back then Camden was an obscene but strangely alluring indie mecca where markets sold cheap jackets, vintage clothes and fashionable junk. Not much has changed in that respect, except the word indie has now become obsolete - we now live in a world where Scouting For Girls are referred to as ‘commercial indie’ and wearing a check shirt and skinny jeans from Top Man appears to define you as ‘indie’.
Breaking More Waves attended its first Camden Crawl in 1996. Back then it was a one day, small scale event with just a handful of bands, limited number of venues, lack of corporate sponsorship and no queues. In 1997 the event expanded to become the Intercity Crawl, and a fifteen pound ticket gave access to six venues, a CD featuring all the bands playing and the pleasure of seeing groups such as The Warm Jets, Vitro and a fresh faced non-stadium indie rocking Snow Patrol. There were also corresponding events in Manchester and Glasgow. Our endearing memory of that year was of passing a gaggle of Kenickie members staggering down Parkway full of glitter and alcohol as well as watching a huge colossus of a man called Tiny from a band called Ultrasound play to a half empty Town & Country Club and being rather glorious.
After 1997 the Crawl laid dormant until resurrection in 2005. Now an annual two day event the bands that help move tickets are no longer alternative acts such as The Wedding Present, Bis, and Scarfo but the hugely commercial Sugababes, Calvin Harris and the Lost Prophets, the whole fracas being sponsored by Gaymers. It’s fair to say that whilst essentially Camden the place hasn’t changed significantly, the Camden Crawl very much has.
Last years crawl was heavily criticised by some reporters, particularly the NME’s Jamie Hodgson who wrote this scathing blog. Other reports we have received suggest that nobody really knew what was going on or where, The Guardian calling it “A riot of miscommunication.” It doesn’t help that one of the main photos on the Camden Crawl website shows punters queuing rather than actually watching and enjoying music. Not a good omen. Like some other multi-gig events in the UK it appears that the art with the Camden Crawl is first to be organised - be prepared to get to the venue for the band you want to see early, and second not to take the name too literally (and by that we don’t mean wear knee pads) instead limiting the amount of crawling you do by minimising your venue swapping. This then lowers the risk of potential queues and missing bands.
We’ll be returning to Camden for our first crawl in thirteen years and reporting back at the start of May. But for now here are five acts appearing at the event that get the Breaking More Waves seal of approval.
Samuel Chase
Samuel Chase first appeared on this blog (here) back in October, although then he was known as Samuel and the Dragon. The dragon has now flown, leaving one of our favourite singles of last year, the beautifully isolated Diamonds on a Boat as a haunting memento. Samuel now continues, with some incredibly soulful, sombre and atmospheric demos on his Myspace. Think of the slo-core melancholy of Japan and Portishead and you’ll be getting somewhere close. An album is due to follow later this year.
Clock Opera
Fresh from supporting Marina and The Diamonds earlier this year, and with one of the more low-key nominations in our Ones to Watch 2010 list, Clock Opera have still played less than twenty live shows. Yet their glorious mash up of home made samples and beats, chopped and repackaged to form crescendos of beauty has us very excited about the band. A new single A Piece Of String is due for release in June, the follow up to their debut White Noise. Lyrically the song explores the relationship between a ventriloquist and his dummy. Last July we said "We love Clock Opera more than our own children." That is because Clock Opera are creating music of the highest order.
Smoke Fairies
Hailing from Chichester, Smoke Fairies are the towns only musical exports of worth since Hope Of The States. They create smoke-laden, sultry, medieval folk-blues songs that sound as if they are from another time and place. Having recorded with Jack White the duo are set to support Laura Marling across the USA immediately after the Camden Crawl 2010.
Stornoway
How could we not mention Stornoway ? The finest band from Oxford since Radiohead, Brian Briggs and his merry men are another one of Breaking More Waves Ones to Watch 2010 and will be releasing their album Beachcombers Windowsill in May. Full of simple acoustic based songs and sung with a clear honesty, Beachombers Windowsill is the sound of stepping outside into a glorious spring day. They may be a little too ‘nice’ for some, but for others they will make hearts flutter.
Silver Columns
Silver Columns are Adem Ilhan and Johnny Lynch. Adem plays bass in post rock / electronic band Fridge whilst Johnny is also known as the Pictish Trail - a folky sounding singer songwriter type. Together as Silver Columns they produce pounding cool disco anthems such as the Breaking More Waves approved Brow Beaten and forthcoming single Cavalier. It’s one of those side projects that actually seems to be better than the mains. Serving it up - groovy.
Our final addition to our ones to watch list is Clock Opera. Currently unsigned, Clock Opera are one of the most inventive bands doing the rounds. Formed from the song writing nuance of one Guy Connelly they have already created the most wondrous and joyous Once And For All, an electronically spliced, arms wide open, laptop symphony that is one of Breaking More Waves most played songs of the last sixth months. It just screams out to be released as a single.
But Clock Opera’s self titled ‘chop pop’, which Guy describes as “Record something quickly. Guitar or piano or whatever‘s lying around. Don‘t stress about quality. Chop into tiny pieces. Reconstruct. Hit whatever is near. Wail nonsense. Write words. Re-write words. Trim. Mix. Play,” has more to offer than just one song. Debut single White Noise and another song Man Made demonstrate that quite clearly, although we need to be careful with the bands use of the word ’pop’. For Clock Opera are probably not the sort of band that are going to be storming the singles charts, they are too experimental for that. They do have the potential however to create inspiring sublime tunes that could provide long term satisfaction rather than a quick fix sensation.
Clock Opera are still very much in their infancy in terms of live performance, having only played a handful of gigs, although Connelly himself has a history, having been in the band The Fallout Trust who then became The Corrections. Connelly has also composed music for the Rambert Dance Company using strings samplers and bits of metal and also the Tangled Feet Theatre Company. Clock Opera have also been working with Graham Stewart who has worked with Radiohead on mixes of some of their songs .
They are our final one to watch for 2010.
Later today, after celebrating this bunch for the last ten days, we add a chilly note of caution to the air before revealing our ten favourite albums of the year.
Back in July (here) we got very excited by the magnificent Clock Opera, a band who in a bubble of passion we stated that we loved more than our own children. Offspring upset duly followed. We then followed it up with an interview with the man behind the music - Guy Connelly -in August. (Read it here.) At the time Guy told us that recordings were ready to go and that there would be news of a release soon. That time is now as Clock Opera release their debut single White Noise.
White Noise is a radioactively shimmering sound collage fused with experimentalism, as is a thundering rhythm heavy remix of the song that has been produced by Django Django. Connelly sings with a melancholy beauty of an accident he nearly had with a speeding riderless motorbike whilst electronic sounds slide in, out and over each other. This engineered soundscape never sounds like it has been created by white lab coat wearing scientists though, White Noise holds a warmth through its melody even when it startles by adding grooving funking drums and bass towards the end.
If White Noise wasn’t good enough on its own, then things get even better with the twinkling b-side of Alouette which sounds like Radiohead stepping through cascading fairytales. With both White Noise and Alouette, Clock Opera have created something just a little bit unique meaning that our kids are going to be feeling rejected again. Our love affair continues with Clock Opera.
White Noise can be purchased exclusively through Pure Groove here. Keep an eye out on the internet soon for a remix that Clock Opera have produced for Marina and the Diamonds as well. Here's the video for White Noise.
A short while back we introduced Clock Opera, a staggeringly brilliant group who have produced one of our favourite songs of the year in Once And For All. It’s an astounding piece of work - part pop song, part electronic symphony of the highest atmospheric order. It's our most played tune of the last month and when we play out under our occasional DJ role we are currently using it as one of our opening tracks. Now it’s time to meet Guy Connelly, the genius behind Clock Opera's experimental harmonies. Trust us. This lot are good.
Hello Guy. OK first of all we are going to gush like an excited teenager and tell you that Once And For All is one of our favourite songs of the year. Please can you tell us about the song, we’re desperate to know more.
Thank you! You are a kind one. Actually, the teenage nature of your gush is appropriate as the song was inspired by fifteen year-olds. I saw this amazing theatre show called Once And For All We're Gonna Tell You Who We Are So Shut Up And Listenabout what you do when you’re that age. It started off with them talking, fighting, having a laugh, making stuff and knocking it down, and you couldn’t work out what was going on. But then they repeated exactly the same thing in different ways. Anyone younger or older couldn’t have done it and I loved that we were watching something that wouldn’t exist for very long.
It made me remember exactly what it was like to be fifteen, and realise what has changed for me since. When you’re that age, there are some things you just know. You don’t ever expect to forget them, but you do. Watching the play made me wonder whether anything I am certain of now will disappear in the same way.
We know very little about you, but you appear to have created some really interesting, unusual and exciting work already. Can you tell us a little bit about your background and your work for theatrical companies that you have been involved in?
I used to be in a band called The Fallout Trust, which became The Corrections. Then I started Clock Opera, and about the same time wrote a score for Rambert Dance Company using strings, samplers and bits of metal (as in dog bowls and old car batteries, not Sepultura. Since then, I’ve worked with (the amazing) Tangled Feet on a few things and done a couple of short films.
My experience of being in a band is that you write something, rehearse it, demo it, play it at a gig maybe, record it, mix it, then maybe someone puts it out some time later, when “the time is right”, which can easily equate to “when everyone involved is bored shitless with it”. With Tangled Feet I wrote the music and it was played to people almost immediately, which I absolutely love.
So many musicians in bands don’t do anything else. I used to be one of them. That can melt your brain. Doing other things keeps all of them happy and fresh. This is what I have learned and it is a great and original revelation, I’m sure you will agree.
It seems that you have only played live so far a very small amount of times, how have those shows gone and are there plans to play live more often ?
Amazing. Yes, we’d only played a couple of gigs when people started getting in touch. Now we are veterans after four gigs. We’ve only just got to the stage of being able to play the songs without our eyes coming out on stalks, so we might start having more fun on stage soon. A load more gigs are coming up soon.
We hear you have been working with Graham Stewart who has worked with Radiohead. How did that come about?
I produced an album with Graeme for The Corrections. He seduced me by letting me play on Thom Yorke’s old guitar. Now we are friends and like doing things together so he’s been helping me with mixes of my new songs.
Can you tell us a bit about how you go about constructing a song?
Record something quickly. Guitar or piano or whatever’s lying about. Don’t stress about quality. Chop into tiny pieces. Reconstruct. Hit whatever is near. Wail nonsense. Write words. Re-write words. Trim. Mix. Play.
Are there plans for any physical or on line releases to purchase?
Recordings are ready to go. Hope to have news to reveal soon.
This is a question we have been asking every band / artist we interview. What is your take on illegal downloading?
Simultaneously amazing and frustrating. It’s massively liberating how loads of people can get to know you really quickly and it’s revolutionary to be able to listen to anything you want, anywhere, any time. What bugs me is that, even if people love your records, you have to rely on other ways to make a living as an artist than just to make music. I love playing live, but resent the idea that you must do in order to survive. What do you do if your music can’t be re-created at a gig? Overall, I think it places greater reliance on advertising to support music, rather than music supporting itself, which doesn’t fill me with joy.
Now, imagine this is a job interview. Where do you see Clock Opera in five years time?
The gutter. Do I get the job?
Another job interview question- What do you think is the greatest strength of Clock Opera?
Blind optimism.
And finally – What is your favourite opera?
None. To be very generalistic, I like the music, can’t stand the singing. Maybe it’s like olives, and I will do one day.
Thanks Guy, look out for more gigs and a debut release from Clock Opera soon ! Here's a trailer for the play that inspired Once And For All.
Do you ever have occasions when you’ve had a real crappy day at work / college /school and you come home, put on the computer or radio and hear a song that instantly changes your mood ? Something so life affirming and brilliant that suddenly everything is all right again ? Well, we had one of those moments this week, and quite simply we can’t stop playing it since. Our neighbours probably think we’ve gone crazy, the same song looped over and over again blasting out into the summer air. By now everybody down our street probably knows every word of Once And For All by Clock Opera. Starting off with a simple half electronic half orchestral chiming sound that sounds like a baroque We Are Your Friends by Justice vs. Simian it effortlessly morphs into a broad sweeping pop song, the magnitude of which is so big that if it were a font size it would be 72. Plus more.
The good thing is that Clock Opera have some other delicious music as well. They call it ‘chop pop’ by which leader Guy Connelly means that he chops and samples sounds to create new ones and then splices them together to make brain invading pop symphonies with an edge. So expect unusual electronic sounds that combine texture and harsh beauty; the kind of sound that we last heard on the debut Maps album We Can Create. The fact that the atmospheric ambience of another Clock Opera song Allouette sounds a little bit like Radiohead at their most experimental means that the recent teaming of Kid A and Amnesiac engineer Graham Stewart with Clock Opera is a perfect combination. But for now we’re going back to listen to Once And For All. Like a wonderful drug it makes every day sound perfect. Go take some.
There’s no video to post, but use the link above to access their Myspace and see why we love Clock Opera more than our own children. (Well, almost.)
