October 31st, 2009
There’s nothing wrong with approaching life as a glass-half-full person.
If you prefer to concentrate on life’s positives rather than on the dreary realities of war, drug abuse and poverty, that’s your right.
Clare and the Reasons’ positive, spunky orchestral pop tunes won many hearts last week at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York….
October 30th, 2009
The New York Times reviewed Monday’s Bowery Ballroom show!
[Clare and the Reasons] sang quiet songs that only accentuated Mr. Chesnutt’s dire crescendos. Clare and the Reasons played sweetly intricate chamber-pop that somehow mingled folk-pop, Philip Glass, cabaret oompah and the Beach Boys — for starters — behind the songwriter Clare Muldaur Manchon’s poised high voice, with an endearing quaver as she sang choruses like “Ooh, you hurt me so.” Liz Durrett opened the show solo, picking stark guitar parts and singing with the breathy vulnerability of Beth Orton or Cat Power. Her folky ballads succinctly balanced sorrow and the determination to hope.
October 29th, 2009
We’ve been digging the new album Arrow from Clare and the Reasons here in the office so when I found out they were playing at the Music Hall of Williamsburg last night, I dragged my dreamy-chamber-pop-loving ass out in the rain to see them. Let me tell you, it was worth the wet socks…
October 28th, 2009
Musee Mecanique are writing and recording their second album, sure to be a blast of beauty for our ears. They’re also heading to Europe in November! Here’s a list of tour dates:
11/17 – Berlin, Germany – Café Zapata
11/18 – Niederstetten, Germany – Kult
11/19 – Munich, Germany – Rote Sonne
11/28 – St. Gallen, Switzerland – Palace
11/29 – Zürich, Switzerland – El Lokal
12/1 – Fulda, Germany – Kulturkeller
12/2 – Leipzig, Germany – Werk II
12/3 – Frankfurt, Germany – Brotfabrik
12/4 – Rubigen, Switzerland – Mühle Hunziken
12/5 – Geislingen, Germany – Rätschenmühle
12/6 – Luzern, Switzerland – Schüür
October 27th, 2009
Clare and the Reasons are terrifyingly cute. They could destroy all worlds of lesser cuteness, blasting apart their molecules like Oppenheimer, and the band displayed this menace instantly via their stage props: brittle bundles of winter foliage, washboards, a tuba, and red pipe cleaners, the last of which would soon jut artfully/insanely from Clare’s hair. The band’s five members scattered and regrouped randomly, foreshadowing the highly twee experience to follow…
Read the whole article…
October 24th, 2009
The city annually rings in fall to the backing soundtrack of CMJ, as New Yorkers and indie music spirits blanket most of the Lower East Side like summered, partied-out leaves in search of the next big thing. What ensues is a messy cacophony of sounds, with a hearty helping of bland bands that eventually blur into the five days of music madness and are rendered irrelevant. Luckily on day number one, Clare and the Reasons breathed new life into the festival with a refreshing springtime sound at Mercury Lounge, reviving show-goers’ great hope for music renewal with their whimsical, narrative version of chamber pop.
Ever the raconteurs, Clare Muldaur Manchon and her husband Olivier Manchon have a knack for developing simple, sparse tales into sprawling musical anthems….
October 24th, 2009
It took Clare & the Reasons a while to set up for their show at the Mercury Lounge. First, they had to affix bundles of white, leafless branches around the stage, creating a small forest in which to play. Then, they had to tune and soundcheck an arsenal of instruments: washboard, clarinet, trombone, tuba, glockenspiel, violin, bass, several guitars, assorted percussion, ukulele, and kazoos. There were no complaints for the late start, but widespread disappointment at the truncated set.
The band consists primarily of singer-songwriter Clare Manchon and multi-instrumentalist Olivier Manchon, with two additional players switching fluidly between guitar, keys, horns, and percussion. Their upcoming album Arrow portrays them as musically omnivorous, blending stately chamber pop with jazz, lite rock, old Disney movies, Vince Guaraldi, “Sesame Street”, and pretty much anything else you can think of. They walk a fine line: The music is too adventurously orchestrated to sound twee, but too breezy to sound showy.
Onstage, they meticulously re-created nearly every sound from the album, which is no small feat for a mere quartet. What can sound subdued in the studio sounded more emphatic on stage, especially the startlingly chipper “Ooh You Hurt Me So” and the rushing chorus of “Mellifera”. As the show progressed, the songs grew longer and more involved, culminating in a pair of winding, intricately arranged “epics” (Clare’s word) that closed the set. Despite the complications, they made it look easy in the end.
October 23rd, 2009
They move well together
They’re only in their 30s, but already Clare Manchon and her husband, Olivier, have the withering repartee of an old married couple – the kind of folks who obviously adore each other but still tell opposing accounts of how they met and feel comfortable enough to make criticism sound like pillow talk….
October 20th, 2009
You can now listen to the whole ARROW CD on AOL SPINNER!
October 20th, 2009
Frog Stand Records is pleased to announce the release of…..
Arrow
The new album by Clare and the Reasons!
Join Clare and the Reasons tonight as they celebrate the release of Arrow at the Mercury Lounge:
October 20, 8PM - The Mercury Lounge
217 E. Houston St, NYC
with special guest: Josh Mease!
Buy ARROW now from the Frog Stand Store, or from iTunes!
October 19th, 2009
The Age of Reasons
Clare and the Reasons Album Release
Fellow citizens:
As one who has always strenuously supported the rights of every man and woman to express his or her own unique opinions, please hear out this amendment.
Henceforth, noogies to the man who contests the greatness of local band Clare and the Reasons. For the new album, Arrow, is a true work of brilliance…
Clare and the Reasons
Josh Mease
Clare and the Reasons
Musée Mécanique
Clare and the Reasons
