Frog Stand Records

Barnes and Noble has released this compilation of songs inspired in one way or another by the classic tale Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. Clare and the Reasons keep good company! Other artists include The Cure, The Flaming Lips, Elvis Costello, and The Jesus and Mary Chain!

Check out Barnes and Noble’s website to learn more!

ARROW reviewed in Belgium’s De Standaard.

Fans van ‘Eleanor Rigby’ van The Beatles zullen plezier beleven aan Arrow, het tweede album van Clare & The Reasons. Clare is Clare Muldaur, de dochter van gitarist Geoff Muldaur. Ze werkt samen met Olivier Manchon, haar echtgenoot, en een stel muzikanten.

Arrow staat vol lieve liedjes die hun muzikale identiteit opbouwen uit het gebruik van barokke arrangementen en klassieke instrumenten. De melodieën geuren soms naar The Beatles, maar de muziek bewaart zo’n kleine toets, met de kinderlijke stem van Muldaur als bonus, dat de band toch herkenbaar is.

De meeste songs zijn van Clare zelf, maar een cover van ‘That’s all’ (van Genesis) plaatst de luisteraar voor een keuze: het is echt niet het nummer dat we nu opnieuw wilden horen, maar dit arrangement is gemaakt met zoveel liefde voor kamerpop – in deze dagen geen hippe keuze – dat je Clare en co moet bewonderen om zoveel geloof in de eigen visie.

Een klein, lief plaatje.

We put this through an online translator, and it gave us this:

Fans of ‘ Eleanor Rigby’ of The Beatles pleasure will live to Arrow, the second album of Clare & The Reasons. Clare are Clare Muldaur, for the of gitarist the Geoff Muldaur. Them cooperates with oil four Manchon, its spouses, and a couple bandsmen. Arrow stand full kind songs which build their musical identity from the use of baroque arrangements and traditional instruments. The melodies smell sometimes to The Beatles, but music keeps zo’ n small test, with the filial voice of Muldaur if bonus, which the link is nevertheless recognizable. The most of songs is of Clare themselves, but cover of ‘ That’ s all’ (of genesis) the auditor for a choice places: it is not really the number that we now again wanted hear, but this arrangement has been made with so much love for chamber headstock – in these days no hippe choice – that your Clare and co must admire for so much belief in its own vision. A small, lief blade.

Clare And The Reasons played a lovely set tonight at Lincoln Hall, finishing off a tour with the French based, bossa nova group, Nouvelle Vague. Unfortunately I showed up a little late and probably missed 3-4 tunes, but thankfully caught some of my favorites off the latest release, Arrow, out via Frog Stand. Performing, for the most part, as a trio, this Brooklyn based group was frequently switching instruments (violin, french horn, snare, glock, clarinet, bass, keys, etc.) to give a full sound, which was a fairly equivalent to the album. The stage banter between husband and wife, Clare and Olivier Manchon, was quite enjoyable as well. For example: a dislike for Canadian crowds, no “boos” for Brooklyn, and explanations of songs, such as a “song about bees”, or the “science portion” of the set. All in all, I highly suggest seeing this band live, as I expect good things to come from/for them in 2010.

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Sean Ogilvie et Micah Rabwin ont trouvé leur nom de groupe en visitant un petit musée de San Francisco, et dans le même esprit ont transformé leur studio de Portland en joyeux bric-à-brac d’instruments antiques et autres synthés d’occasion. Leur musique est délibérément rêveuse, brumeuse et souvent murmurée parmi les flûtes, les harmoniums. Une affaire de fantôme (celui des Beatles 1967-68 ?) ficelée dans un album à l’ancienne, à écouter en entier. Tant de délicatesse pourrait sombrer dans une certaine mièvrerie. Eh bien non, le charme opère et grave en nous quelques mélodies suaves, aériennes (Somehow bound, qui fera mieux dans le genre cette année?).

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Clare and the Reasons perform Harry Nilsson’s “He Needs Me” with Van Dyke Parks, San Francisco, February 12th 2010.

Check out these videos of Clare and the Reasons, Live In The Relix Boiler Room:

“All The Wine”

“You Got Time”

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Buy “Arrow”, featuring these two songs!

Enjoy this new video for “Like Home”, by Musee Mecanique!

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Buy “Hold This Ghost”

Enjoy this!

Clare and the Reasons
Playing With Time

“We’re a bunch of idiots! We definitely mix that into what we do because that’s who we are,” confesses Clare and the Reasons’ frontwoman Clare Muldaur. “We take the music we do very very, very seriously, but we don’t take ourselves that seriously.” It’s that sense of professional whimsy that leads Clare and the Reasons to some interesting places—including shows in bright red jumpsuits, haiku recording diaries, and absurdist takes on 1980s classics.

Making music that floats like a summer breeze and evokes a bittersweet nostalgia; Clare and the Reasons’ musical roots were sewn early in Muldaur’s childhood. “My first musical, head-over-heels falling in love was with Bessie Smith when I was like, eight. I grew up listening to almost exclusively black music from the ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s,” she explains.

A storyteller at heart, Muldaur’s literary lyricism is likewise rooted in art from before her time. Muldaur waxes poetic when discussing film. “Truffaut’s Stolen Kisses, for sure…400 Blows…I love a lot of French cinema actually.” On her home soil, Muldaur also has a clear favorite—the musical. “My favorite musical would probably be Singing in the Rain, when music used to be good music,” she says. “It’s kind of gone off the deep end for me now…I don’t know why they can’t just do good musicals, why it has to be bad. It’s almost like a rule of thumb now…or just really cheesy.”

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Songbirds and bees

Brooklyn’s Clare and the Reasons make
charmed chamber pop

Clare Muldaur’s honey-sweet vocals and fanciful chamber pop soundscapes may belie the sophistication of her compositions and her husband Olivier Manchon’s arrangements of brass, strings and woodwinds, but it’s that levity and wonder that make Clare and the Reasons so charming.

Based in Brooklyn, Muldaur hails from Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., where her mother is a schoolteacher. Her sister Jenni is a singer, who recently toured the world singing back-up for David Byrne, and her father Geoff Muldaur is a musician who plays what his daughter deems an unclassifiable blend of styles from the first half of the 20th century—she recommends his early ’70s albums on Warner, which are “way ahead of their time,” she says, and recorded during a period “when Warner Bros. used to support artistic things” (Clare and the Reasons are signed to Frog Stand Records, incidentally). During his long career, Geoff Muldaur crossed paths with legendary songwriter Van Dyke Parks, a mentor of sorts to Clare and Manchon…

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