So I discovered Clare and the Reasons last weekend. An email arrived and told me of a European tour with St Vincent - which immediately piqued my curiousity. I figured someone that was touring with Anne would at least be interesting.

I clicked through to their MySpace and listened to Pluto then Pluton - different versions of the same song, first song in English then in French.

Now, how to describe Clare and the Reasons... The first thing that strikes you is that they sound like they belong in a much earlier decade of the twentieth century. There's something decidedly "Flapper-esque" about the music and Clare's unique vocals. When you listen to them, you can almost imagine being in a 1920's prohibition era NYC nightclub - listening to the 7-piece and beautiful vocals capturing the room.

So, within a day I'd got their record, 'The Movie' and was listening to it over and over again. I was particularly stuck on one song - 'Nothing Nowhere', which features the blogospheres seemingly favorite son - Sufjan Stephens.

'Nothing Nowhere' immediately went into my top 5 songs for the year - not only because its a fairly stunning piece of work (especially after the 1:40 mark) but that it comes across as what should have been the best Page France song on the follow up to their 'Hello, Dear Wind' record. You'll know what I mean when you hear it.

On a side note - I was stuck without this song for a few hours while at another computer, and looked for it on the Hype Machine with no luck. Maybe I have the pleasure of being the blog that introduces this track?

MP3:
Clare and the Reasons - Nothing Nowhere

I'd venture so far to say this is the best record I've gotten all year. Buy the record here.

Tour Dates:
Fri 11/30/07 London, UK Bush Hall
Sat 12/01/07 London, UK Luminaire
Mon 12/03/07 Manchester, UK Ruby Lounge
Tue 12/04/07 Brighton, UK Freebutt
Wed 12/05/07 Oxford, UK Carling Academy Oxford
Thu 12/06/07 London, UK Slaughtered Lamb
Fri 12/07/07 Birmingham, UK Glee Club
Sat 12/08/07 Leicester, UK TBA
Mon 12/10/07 Paris, FRA La Maroquinerie
Tue 12/11/07 Paris, FRA Point Ephemere

Labels: studio mp3s, tour dates