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| From | "Stewart Mason" <craigtorso@verizon.net> |
| Subject | Re: Clare and the Reasons |
| Date | Wed, 19 Sep 2007 23:20:17 -0400 |
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Gene Good" <javagene@hotmail.com>
I have just heard one of the songs of the year for me.It is "Pluto" by
Clare and the Reasons from an album called "The Movie" coming out in
October.It is a beguiling song to the planet Pluto sung by Clare
Muldaur Manchon.Her father is Geoff Muldaur,an extraordinary musician
himself.She has a beautiful voice.The song is pure pop in the new
cabaret vein which I am a huge fan of.
You heard it here first.
I just finished my review of THE MOVIE (which actually is available
now, both in stores and on eMusic) and I'm pretty certain this has
knocked GOD BLESS THE CLIENTELE out of my #1 slot for the year. I'm
sure there's a contingent of other fans here as well: anyone who liked
Nellie McKay and Sylvie Lewis' recent albums, for sure, and I suspect
the John Southworth fans as well.
Here's the review:
Bossa nova legend Astrud Gilberto. Easy listening nymphet Claudine
Longet. Alison Statton of Young Marble Giants. Clare Grogan of Altered
Images. Alison Shaw of Cranes. Nina Persson of the Cardigans.
Alt-country singer Amy Allison. And now, add to this pantheon of the
great baby-voiced female singers of pop music history, Clare Muldaur
Manchon. Muldaur Manchon, the daughter of folk-blues legend Geoff
Muldaur, has a gloriously wispy, lighter-than-air timbre, but she's
also a skilled, nuanced interpreter of her own jazz-influenced
melodies. Her voice is the centerpiece of the debut album by Clare and
the Reasons, and rightfully so: it's a fairly outstanding instrument.
But Muldaur Manchon's vocals are expertly supported by the Reasons, a
chamber-pop quintet led by her husband and writing partner,
keyboardist Olivier Manchon. The appropriately cinematic arrangements
of the richly textured The Movie, featuring strings, horns and a
helping hand by the old master of the style, Van Dyke Parks, are
tremendous, echoing everything from Pet Sounds to Nick Drake's Bryter
Layter to several generations' worth of soundtrack masters including
Ennio Morricone, Henry Mancini and Nelson Riddle. These arrangements
support 11 good to great songs, mostly minor-key ballads with lovelorn
lyrics like the wistful longing of "Alphabet City" and "Love Can Be A
Crime." But the absolute masterpiece is the final track, "Pluton," a
loving recreation of space-age exotica complete with UFO-style pedal
steel and theremin sounds trailing through shimmering pizzicato
strings, married to Muldaur Manchon's wry lyrics about Pluto's recent
demotion from planetary status. It's a perfect ending to one of the
most assured and enjoyable debuts of 2007.
S
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