If the band’s latest album is any indication, the watchword for London’s CLIENTELE is consistency. Bonfires on the Heath continues in the vein of the quartet’s previous work, offering finely crafted, keenly felt pop songs that draw equally from twee U.K. pop and orchestral 60s pop. Leader Alasdair MacLean pens almost swooningly romantic ditties but sings them in a sedate manner just this side of detached; the band (and their guests on horns and strings) performs the compositions with intensity without waking the baby. “”Harvest Time,” “Graven Wood” and the title track are gorgeous, gentle, dreamlike gems with melodies for which BELLE & SEBASTIAN would kill; “Share the Night” and “I Wonder Who We Are” up the tempo but not the volume. Bonfires on the Heath is perfect late night/early morning magic.
http://www.theclientele.co.uk
http://www.mergerecords.com
