Nothing But A Show

Lake Ruth “Empty Morning”

Allison Brice’s voice has a high, delicate tone that floats gently through “Empty Morning” like a light breeze. It seems to move through the electric piano chords that guide the song, and through the treble of the guitar and snare hits. There’s a languid pace to the piece but the music is always moving forward, Brice’s voice pushing towards its conclusion. When the song finally reaches the end, the beat stops with a few rapid hits. As romantic as the music sounds, the end is oddly unsentimental: Hey, we’re here. We’re done.

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Municipality “Miles Away”

I don’t say this to belittle the band Municipality, but the degree to which this song sounds like The Clientele is astonishing. As in, it can be difficult to imagine that this is not Alasdair MacLean leading another band. The particular tone of the voice, the melodic style, the guitar tone, the way the drums fall into this pocket that’s loose but precise. It’s a dead ringer, and I mean this as a compliment – this is a winning sound, and it’s not as though there aren’t around 300 fake Joy Divisions out there we have to all pretend are fresh and exciting. Also, “Miles Away” is an incredibly lovely piece of music, and frankly, better than a LOT of actual Clientele songs. If you’re going to go with someone else’s style, you really ought to at least do it as well or better.

Buy it from Bandcamp.