The Clientele - Lost Weekend EP
(Acuarela)
There are some bands who make what I would call "pastoral pop." Bands like Belle and Sebastian, or someone like their idol, Nick Drake, are good examples of this type of music. This is the kind of music where you are lulled into a state where you're more open to different types of melodies and musical ideas than a band would be able to communicate using another type of rock-based music.
The trick to this is that once you've got the listener in the lulled state, you then provide them with interesting music. The Clientele fail to do this on their newest release, Lost Weekend EP. The music is just dull. It makes you sleepy. I listened to it several times, hoping some melodies would snake their way from behind the wall of sleep the music was creating, but to no avail. The end result was either boredom or a sense of malaise.
Some music evokes that early morning feeling where light and shadow play against the walls and the tiniest sounds seem strange, making you see things with a different awareness. I think that's what The Clientele were aiming for here, but they end up making music that evokes that early morning feeling where light doesn't concern you and the sounds around you soothe you to sleep, because it's too early in the morning for you to get up, anyway. Unless you're an insomniac, you won't need to hear the Lost Weekend EP.
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