Frog Stand Records

Clare & The Reasons is the name of Clare and Olivier Manchon’s musical project. The two met at college in Boston and now call Brooklyn home. Arrow,their recently released second album, is a remarkable record. The songs are buoyant and melodic, but shrouded in proficiently arranged orchestration–complete with whistling, strings, horns, swells of vocal oohs and a Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) contribution on the track “This Is The Story.” Clare and The Reasons have tour dates posted here (including a show with Israeli/French songstress Keren Ann and a bunch of dates with the venerable Van Dyke Parks). Go find them! And do read our interview with Clare Manchon, in which she reveals a love for Stevie Wonder, tells us what Van Dyke Parks listens to and weighs in on our current administration, after the jump…

Read the whole interview…

Clare and the Reasons
Snapshots from the Brain

It’s natural to assume that a songwriter is using his or her music as a personal diary, particularly when he or she pens a song like Clare and the Reasons’ “Ooh You Hurt Me So” – one of 13 dulcet, carefully arranged tracks on their second record, Arrow. But Clare Manchon, frontwoman for the group, insists that Arrow, like its predecessor The Movie, is an imaginative collection of songs drawn only slightly from her own life.
“I take little moments from my days and certain moments stand out to me more,” Manchon says. “I continued on that path on this record. ‘Ooh You Hurt Me So’ came from me sitting in a restaurant and seeing two people fighting at a table. I think any record is just a snapshot of what was floating around in your brain.”

Read the whole article…

Clare and the Reasons will be hitting the road at the end of January, playing some shows with NOUVELLE VAGUE! Here are the dates:

1.22 – Philadelphia – World Cafe Live
1.23 – NYC – Webster Hall
1.24 – Boston – Somerville Theater
1.26 – Montreal – Metropolis
1.27 – Toronto – The Opera House
1.28 – Detroit – The Crofoot Ballroom
1.29 – Chicago – Lincoln  Hall

For more info, visit the shows page!

Josh Mease’s ”White Diamonds” is the VIDEO OF THE DAY on Spinner.com!

From Spinner: “In this visually striking clip, the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter stays perfectly still as kaleidoscopic images flash by in the background.”

“White Diamonds” video featured on AOL MUSIC!

Josh Mease
impossibly infectious

Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Josh Mease is a bit of an explorer. Originally hailing from Houston, Mease recorded his debut LP, “Wilderness,” in sessions that took him from Texas to Connecticut and back to his own bedroom a stone’s throw from the BQE. The most fruitful wanderings of his, however, take place within the confines of his imagination—the lush sonic dreamscapes of “Wilderness” recall, at times, the music of mid-century animated Disney films the elegant “Eleanor” in particular sounds like it wouldn’t be out of place in Alice’s wonderland, sung by a chorus of harmonizing flora.

“White Diamonds,” the album’s first single, is an impossibly infectious tune a delightful video for the song, as well as a clip for “Eleanor,” can be found online at his MySpace page or on Youtube. From the lovely opener “You Found Me” and laid-back “Days Like This” through the towering, ambient “Tall Trees,” “Wilderness” is a gorgeously breathtaking first record. The Deli caught Mease with his head out of the clouds long enough to discuss the creative process…

Read the whole interview…

The holiday season is always accompanied by the never-ending cavalcade of the same few Christmas songs that are played over and over again to the point of severe nausea. No matter where you go or what you do this time of year, you are subject to suffer the constant barrage of these hackneyed holiday tunes. Luckily the folks at Frog Stand Records are here to assuage the auditory assault. They have enlisted Clare And The Reasons (“Blue Christmas”), Josh Mease (”I’ll Be Home For Christmas”) and Musée Mécanique (”White Christmas”) to record their own renditions of Christmas classics for A Frog Stand Christmas. The EP finally provides a much-needed breath of fresh air into the holidays…

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That list of who plays what above should give you some idea of what Musee Mecanique sound like – they’re either going to be a band with a meticulous attention to detail and a desire to complement the organic with shades of the electronic, or a mellow mess. Whether through self-control or good taste, they veer more towards the former. Considering there are almost a dozen instruments being played variously by the five members, it’s all quite hushed and gentle, elegant and restrained. This becomes even more impressive when you learn that at a recent London gig, where two MM members featured in fellow Oregon singer-songwriter Laura Gibson’s band, one of them played the keyboard with one hand, the glockenspiel with the other, and the bass drum with his foot…

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From Waxy Yellow Buildup:

Josh Mease sent an e-mail to my neighborhood listserv (is that word outdated yet?) this year looking for guitar students. Out of curiosity, I checked out his music, and bought the album at once. Good, solid songwriting, hushed intimate vocals and intelligently whimsical arrangements make for a great listen. All this from a debut album? Hells yes. Can’t wait to hear what’s next for Mr. Mease.