Clearlake - Lido

  by Benjamin Howarth

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

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Review

I don’t think that I am pessimistic about the state of the modern music scene, unlike many people. Last year was a great year overall for music and I bought many albums that continue to impress (and I am still trying to complete my collection of last year’s finest albums – recently Magic 12’s superb 'Dear Diary' and Elliott Smith’s equally lovely 'Figure 8)'. Perhaps the only criticism I could make is that I didn’t hear a single album that genuinely shocked me because I hadn’t heard anything like it before. Even Radiohead’s 'Kid A' was, in my opinion, merely a necessary progression forward. After all the reports in the music press it was what I was expecting, although I did enjoy it. This year has begun to develop in a much more exciting fashion. Rydell genuinely sounded distinctive – you couldn’t quite label it hardcore but couldn’t find any other way of saying it – I still play that album constantly 2 months on. REM have surpassed anything in their back catalogue with a modern sounding record that also has terrific tunes. It is an album one must play over and over again. Through the new hinah label I have discovered the French group Vera Clouzot (although strictly speaking the live album was recorded last year), who borrow from the past but conjure up something that sounds fresh. Clearlake for me fit nicely into this little group – and I hope Hefner, SFA and Radiohead will join them, along with a few groups of whose existence I’m not yet aware. After a couple of years of promising singles they have at long last released their debut album. The quartet (Jason Pegg – Vocals, guitar and harmonica plus lyrics ; James Butcher – Drums and chordette ; David Woodward – Bass and omnichord ; Sam Hewitt – Keyboards, oboe and backing vocals) hail from Brighton, meeting while at college. Initially the concept was that all lived in the mythical town, Clearlake, although that appears to have been abandoned. The album could sound like a straight pop/indie album, but I urge you to listen a little closer. Although it hasn’t been hyped it thoroughly deserved its good NME review. There is no rule that you need to play a record over and over to establish it as a classic in your own head. Of my personal favourites 'Meat Is Murder', 'Bryter Layter' and 'OK Computer' needed replaying to establish themselves but 'The Holy Bible', 'Hard Day’s Night' and 'John Wesley Harding' didn’t. 'Lido' is quite strange. It certainly benefits from being put on repeat play but at the same time I realised how great songs like ‘I Hang On Every Word You Say’ and ‘These Things Are Sent To Try Us’ were after a single playing. Others like ‘Jumble Sailing’ and ‘Winterlight’ take a little longer to establish themselves because of the curious assortment of instruments the band employs. Perhaps the best musical reference point I can give for ‘Lido’ is Rialto’s classic overlooked eponymous debut album from 1998, not least because the vocal styles and lyrics are similar. The traditional British complaints of ‘Sunday Evening’ (“there’s nothing on except 'Songs Of Praise') echo Rialto’s ‘Summer’s Over, Seaside Town’. Both these records combine the use of various keyboards with delicate guitar parts. Clearlake just about have the edge because Rialto do sound a little clichéd now and again. Little things like Pegg singing in his real English accent, rather than putting one on as many southern groups do just give a nice impression. The guitars are allowed a little life to flourish outside the keyboards but are abandoned on the leisurely ‘Jumble Sailing’. Lido opens with a short instrumental, ‘Clearlake Lido’. It borrows the melody from ‘These Things Are Sent To Try Us’ and is, in fact, rather pleasant. When I first played the album I thought, “Why open the album with some keyboard instrumental?” By the end I realised the importance of this and the later instrumental ‘Daybreaking’ in creating an atmosphere. Lido develops over the 12 tracks towards the 7-minute closer ‘Winterlight’ and isn’t merely a collection of songs. It is an album! Slowly the less immediate tunes seep into consciousness. At only the stage of a debut album it is tremendously exciting. In creating a pop record that isn’t bubblegum or influenced by Big Star they are pretty unique. It is an “indie” record in that the tunes are not ultra-catchy and the singing isn’t classically trained. There are bands that sound like Clearlake but no albums that sound or feel like 'Lido'. It is, I think, a genuine classic. Clearlake have put every effort into creating a unique, interesting debut. Although they do, just once, sound like Coldplay – in a GOOD way – they couldn’t be more divorced from the current musical climate. I’m calling it the third great album.

Track Listing:-

1 Clearlake Lido
2 Sunday Evening
3 Don't Let The Cold In
4 Something To Look Forward To
5 These Things Are Sent To Try Us
6 I Hang On Every Word You Say
7 Let Go
8 Daybreaking
9 Jumble Sailing
10 Life Can Be So Cruel
11 I Want To Live In A Dream
12 Winterlight

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