what?
Orchestral alt.pop from Clare Muldaur Manchon and band.
Reasons to be cerebral
by Shona Craven
Brooklyn-based band Clare and the Reasons come to Scotland this month for a mini-tour to promote their debut album, The Movie.
The Clare in question is Clare Muldaur Manchon, a retro-loving chanteuse with a sweetly child-like voice. She met fellow band member Oliver Manchon, now her husband, at Berklee College of Music, where they began musical collaborations.
The Reasons are a flexible collection of musicians playing everything from piano to penny whistle and flugelhorn to fake harpsichord, creating a diverse set of sounds from the lush, otherworldly soundscapes of Pluto, to string waltz Cook For You and the lazy, harmony-laden Rodi.
The band's dazzlingly inventive compositions are fused with beguiling lyrics. Clare is clearly a smart cookie and not ashamed to show it in her songwriting: Pluto was inspired by an article in the New York Times about a change to the planet's status, and The Movie ends with the same song performed in French.
It's a delightful touch and appropriate, too as the off-beat collective seem to spend as much time in Europe as at home. America's loss is our gain.
Clare and the Reasons play Cabaret Voltaire on August 25 (as part of the Edge Festival) then tour to Aberdeen (August 27), Inverness (28), Dundee (31) and Glasgow (September 2). They'll also be appearing on the Club Noir stage at Hydro Connect on August 30.
