“The London Sessions” is the latest release by Clyde, an outstanding band from Louisville, Kentucky. It’s their first piece of work this year, after “The Modern Man,” a critically acclaimed full-length album released in 2021 that you should also check out. The band heavily promoted these sessions with “The Traveler,” an excellent single that vividly showcases what you might expect from this material. For this particular release, the band traveled to London, where they recorded four excellent compositions, suitable even for those picky listeners. For those stumbling upon this excellent band for the first time, Clyde combines several different but complementary music genres to illustrate such a rich and luxurious sound. Perhaps alternative rock comes to mind first, but you’ll notice how some other music genres like Americana, folk rock, indie rock, psych rock, shoegaze, and dream pop found their way into this sonic equation. The band uses all these additional elements as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to uplift their music to new heights while simultaneously remaining loyal to the primary sonic direction. Therefore, these experimentations with many different but complementary styles resulted in a catchy, engaging, memorable, mesmerizing material suitable for alternative rock fans and beyond.
“The London Sessions” commences with “The Traveler,” a perfect overture that seamlessly merges subtle Americana melodies, harmonies, and themes with alternative rock soundscapes. This track carries some psychedelic rock qualities while the generous dosages of reverb resemble something shoegaze and dream pop bands would eventually incorporate into their songs. Clyde combines all these elements with such precision and finesse, gradually building a lush atmosphere that grabs a listener by the collar and refuses to let go long after this EP ends. As soon as you press play, you’ll notice how the marvelous vocal harmonies serve as a centerpiece, commanding attention and guiding the listening apparatus through each segment and instrumentation. The impressive vocal range seamlessly balances low, mid, and high notes, emphasizing everything these experienced musicians tried to achieve with these sessions. In the meantime, the interplay between rhythm and lead guitars shapes such a perfect backdrop for all the vocal articulations to shine upon. You’ll notice how jangly, reverby, catchy chord progressions resonate on one side while the other delivers exceptional themes, melodies, and harmonies. The synths and keys spice things up and elevate these instrumentations by delivering calm, soothing, relaxing, ethereal ambiances, perfectly paired with guitar works.
The rhythm section also shines bright in this sonic equation, and a track like “The Writer” exemplifies the importance of it. You’ll hear how equally intricate low-end notes rumble beneath the guitars, providing heaviness, clarity, and depth while binding all the instrumentations together with the drums. The impressive rhythmic sequences based upon energetic, tastefully assembled, flawlessly performed, groovy, well-accentuated beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics keep everything in line while dictating groove and tempo. The keyboards and synths are more hearable here, as they deliver main leads, themes, and atmospherics while the guitars contribute with raw, abrasive, generously distorted chord progressions and riffs, constructing another perfect backdrop for the fascinating vocal performance. Speaking of the vocal performance, Clyde thoroughly planned every maneuver. Besides expertly constructed lead vocal arrangements, you’ll notice how back vocals and singalongs uplift this track on an entirely new level. They left no stone unturned while writing, composing, arranging, and producing these tracks, and “The Writer” is a perfect example of their brilliance. Also, this song leans much more towards alternative and indie rock sound, showcasing their versatility as a band. You may also notice some other elements lurking around, and the band expertly implemented them along the way.
“The Pilot” delivers another Americana-inspired rock voyage where pleasant soundscapes wrap around your listening apparatus and guide you through the vast universe built upon tender slide-guitar harmonies, melodies, themes, pulsating synth sequences, complex basslines, and moderate rhythmic structures. This song arrives as a mantra, a soul-healing journey where another outstanding vocal performance steers the wheel through beautiful sonic landscapes. These vocal harmonies are one of Clyde’s heaviest weapons in their arsenal, as each segment of the song arrives with calm, soothing, relaxing, ethereal vocal maneuvers and singalongs. The arpeggiated and regular chord progressions, heavily drenched in reverb effect, make this magnificent song even more enjoyable while the profoundly detailed rhythmic patterns keep the steady, slow-motion pace. “The Poser” slows down the pace even more, as the band takes a deep dive into a shoegaze-inspired ballad heavily drenched in the Americana sound. It’s one of those tracks where magnificent piano leads, themes, and melodies marvelously pair with slide guitars, creating a lush atmosphere that will convince even the pickiest listeners to spin this EP over again. The subtly implemented bass guitar supports those instrumentations with another dosage of heavy and powerful low-ends while the rhythmic patterns provide enough groove and dynamics for this excellent song to keep listeners focused.
It’s a perfect closure of such fascinating material that demonstrates all their skills, talent, knowledge, and experience. Clyde’s brilliant ideas and outstanding musicianship are on full display here, as the band delivers four memorable compositions that will immediately resonate with the broader auditorium. “The London Sessions” is a perfect collection of songs for anyone even remotely into Americana, alternative, indie, shoegaze, psych-rock, or dream pop music. It’s one of those EPs you surely don’t want to miss. It’s available on all streaming platforms.
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