Music Arcades: The Clientele: That Night, a Forest Grew

Well, I had a little think yesterday — less than ten minutes of thinking, I grant you, but still a think — about the role and value of music to me. Nothing groundbreaking, or conclusive, about my conclusions, but it occurred to me that I like music that can add seasoning to some of the more bland parts of the day; I like music that creates new connections and new meanings between elements of our culture (both within and beyond the domain of music itself); and I like music that touches on the sublime and flows magically through my body and through the patterns of the cosmos, hinting as it does so that the former may not be as alienated from the latter as it often feels.

I reckon music that meets any one of these criteria is something to be grateful for. The Clientele make music that fulfills all three. Though not perhaps on this particular EP.

Maybe I crushed it with the weight of my anticipation. As I've probably gone on about before, I saw The Clientele play six times in London last year in the months leading up to the release of That Night, a Forest Grew. If you see a band that often, you pretty soon find yourself paying attention to, even craving, the little differences that make each performance unique. It can be just a particulaly witty throwaway remark between songs. But the real excitement — and the all-important bragging rights — come with witnessing a rarely-performed song, or the first performance of a new song. I saw the first ever public performance of Retiro Park (25 April 2008, Tapestry Club, Kings Cross). As Alasdair MacLean, the band's singer and main writer, said immediately afterwards, it wasn't very good. I saw two more of the first ten performances as well (17 May 2008, Bush Hall, Acton, and 6 September 2008, 229 Club, Great Portland Street): they were better, but still a little disappointing as the only new material on offer more than a year after the release of their latest album. Even the title, Retiro Park, sounded more like a Florida trailer park than the foggy haunts of Springfield Park and Highgate Park in previous Clientele songs. (In the real world, though I've been to neither, I suspect Retiro Park may have the edge over Springfield Park — however, the Lea Valley still feels romantic to me.)

The EP's release was also chronically delayed. Don't believe web pages that tell you it was released in May last year. That may have been the original announcement, but I had it on order from July, and my copy didn't arrive until October.

With The Clientele, their worst is better than best. Aside from Retiro Park, the other three songs are pretty decent: Share the Night the stand-out as catchiest, so much so that it made it onto the new album. Yet also the only song from the album not to be played in Kilburn on Thursday.

As for George Says He Has Lost His Way In This World, that's a little too close to home for comfort.