The Rosebuds/Clientele preview

The Rosebuds, The Clientele
Subterranean, Chicago
Friday, June 1, 2007
Saturday, June 2, 2007

If Merge Records were a television station, Spoon and The Arcade Fire would be its primetime programming, while The Rosebuds (Friday) and The Clientele (Saturday) would take care of the late-night dance party.

That distinction could not have been made so clear without the duo’s latest albums, which both hint at British textures largely avoided by the label’s American indie rock lifeblood. Lucky for you they’re playing separate nights at Subterranean and you can coordinate your outfits appropriately.

The Rosebuds seem to have come the furthest by surpassing 2005’s disappointing Birds Make Good Neighbors. This spring’s Night Of The Furies finds Ivan Howard, Kelly Crisp, and friends tapping into a semi-gothic composition of The Cure, OMD, The Church, and, for its sultry dance grooves, New Order. And while the twee pop of their first album and EP has for the most part vanished, the spirit lost on Birds has been reborn. For all its falsettoed romanticism, Furies twirls at an upbeat clip, going so far as to rehash disco on “Get Up Get Out.” Crisp’s detached vocal on “I Better Run” lays out a runaway’s excuses for escaping into big city haunts, tapping into an escapist youth lamented from “My Punishment For Fighting” to the closing title track.

God Save The Clientele recalls not only the music but also the cover of Luna’s Penthouse. Talk of beaches, sunshine, and carnivals does little to dissaude the notion the majority of The Clientele’s third album is meant for consumption at night. When frontman Alasdair MacLean taunts in the press release “the band are freeing their inner Monkees” he isn’t kidding with the sprighly opener “Here Comes The Phantom.” Sleepy Jean might be on her way to cheering up, but slowly “I Hope I Know You” and “The Queen Of Seville” bring the album to Wednesday night at 3 a.m., reluctantly admitting “It’s gonna be a lonely, lonely day.” Daylight peeks through the curtains on “Carnival On 7th Street,” but if God’s gonna save The Clientele, he had best bring a flashlight.

Land Of Talk and Sybris open for The Rosebuds; Beach House and The Singleman Affair will open for The Clientele.

— Steve Forstneger

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly