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Sep 21, 2017 Web Exclusive By Matthew Berlyant

There are artists who experiment relentlessly and continuously release a totally different sounding album from the one before it, breaking new ground and challenging their audience in the process. And then there are artists like The Clientele. Once Alasdair MacLean opens his mouth and starts to sing the breathy words to “The Neighbour,” you immediately know it’s The Clientele. The band’s sound is, as ever, autumnal, reverb-rich, hazy, and utterly gorgeous indie-pop. Though initially influenced by Felt, Television Personalities, and especially Galaxie 500, that sound is more and more their own as the years go by. The biggest change-up here is “Everyone You Meet,” which utilizes an electronic beat to great effect, but otherwise this is The Clientele picking up right where they left off on 2010’s Minotaur mini-LP before they took a three-year hiatus. “Lunar Days” is a stone-cold classic and “Constellations Echo Lanes” borrows heavily from “Losing Haringey” off of 2005’s career-best Strange Geometry with MacLean intonating a spoken-word narrative about an event in his youth over the band’s music. This is the culmination of the band’s reunion, which started in 2014 and has produced U.S. and European dates. It’s nice to have them back! (www.theclientele.co.uk)

Author rating: 7.5/10