• Clare and the Reasons on Rugby.com!

    November 6th, 2009

    (Pssst! Don’t forget that tonight’s show in Cleveland has been moved to the Beachland Tavern! Don’t go to the Grog Shop, kids!)

    The music end of Ralph Lauren has gone wild for Clare and the Reasons. Here’s what they posted today:

    We were so smitten by Clare Manchon and her Reasons at this year’s CMJ festival in New York, we wanted to bring you a download from her new album Arrow, out last week, so you can share the love. We tracked down the sweet soprano while she was en route to a performance in Newport, Kentucky, (“We’ve been reading the KISS biography, KISS And Tell, aloud,” she told us from the car) to ask her about the new record, how she made it and what else she’s listening to these days.

    Download the single “Ooh You Hurt Me So

    “Did you know that Gene Simmons dated Cher and Diana Ross?” We didn’t, in fact — nor would we have thought that this velvet-voiced chanteuse would pick such heavy road reading. She assured us, though, that her musical tastes are about as far from flamethrowers and facepaint as you can get. “I love big melodies,” she says, “the Everly brothers, and stuff like that… there aren’t a whole lot of current bands doing that. Though of course,” she admits, “I love Grizzly Bear like any other Brooklyn girl.”

    Swelling orchestral interludes — trombone, tuba, clarinet and violin intermingle with ethereal electric guitar — are certainly her band’s specialty. Members of Bierut and The National bring their special brand of indie shimmer to Clare’s sound, while husband Olivier Manchon, who has a background in French classical music, is adept at spinning the melodies she writes into intricate, vaguely Parisian arrangements. “To have it be complex and seem simple,” Clare says, “I think that’s the ultimate challenge.” Listening to the pristine compositions on Arrow, we just have to say fait accompli, Clare.


    Josh Mease on Tour!

    November 6th, 2009

    Come check out Josh Mease on tour in November/December in one of these fine venues, in one of these fine cities:

    11.06- PITTSBURGH- Howler’s Cafe
    11.07- ATHENS, OH- Donkey Coffee
    11.10- ST. LOUIS- Cyrano’s
    11.11- CHICAGO- Empty Bottle + Daytime performance on WLUW 88.7
    11.21- BROOKLYN- Sycamore
    12.11- NYC- Rockwood Music Hall
    12.15- HOUSTON, TX- Live on KPFT 90.1 FM- “Sound Awake”
    12.16- HOUSTON, TX- The Mink
    12.15- AUSTIN, TX- TBA
    12.17- DALLAS, TX- TBA
    12.18- DENTON, TX- TBA
    For more details, click here!


    ARROW Review in the Washington Post!

    October 31st, 2009

    Clare and the Reasons - arrowThere’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….

    Read the whole article…


    Clare and the Reasons in the NEW YORK TIMES!

    October 30th, 2009

    Clare and the Reasons
    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.


    Clare and the Reasons in BUST MAGAZINE

    October 29th, 2009

    Clare and the ReasonsWe’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…

    Read the whole article…


    Musee Mecanique to tour Europe!

    October 28th, 2009

    Musee Mecanique

    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

    Learn more about Musee Mecanique
    Buy “Hold This Ghost”


    Clare and the Reasons in the VILLAGE VOICE!

    October 27th, 2009

    clareandthereasons-thumb-575x427Clare 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…


    Clare and the Reasons in Corduroy Magazine!

    October 24th, 2009

    Clare and the ReasonsThe 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….

    Read the whole article…


    Clare and the Reasons in PITCHFORK!

    October 24th, 2009

    Clare and the ReasonsIt 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.


    Clare and the Reasons in the Boston Globe!

    October 23rd, 2009

    Clare and the Reasons
    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….

    Read the whole article…


    SPINNER Online Listening Party!

    October 20th, 2009

    You can now listen to the whole ARROW CD on AOL SPINNER!

    Click here to preview the entire CD!


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