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February 6th, 2010
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.”
January 23rd, 2010
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…
January 21st, 2010
The Earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince on January 12th has left many in need of urgent medical attention.
To help aid the Haitian people, Frog Stand Records will donate 100% of the profits from all digital purchases for one week on www.frogstandrecords.com directly to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières is an organization of more than 27,000 committed individuals representing dozens of nationalities, providing assistance to people caught in crises around the world. They are doctors, nurses, logistics experts, administrators, epidemiologists, laboratory technicians, mental health professionals, and others who work together to provide independent, impartial assistance to those most in need.
The people of Haiti are in great need of help, and we hope you’ll take a moment to purchase something from the Frog Stand download store.
Sincerely,
Frog Stand Records
January 15th, 2010
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…
January 14th, 2010
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.”
January 5th, 2010
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!
January 4th, 2010
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.”