Clues
What to say about a band who has only released a single MP3 to the public and only have a handful of shows under their belt? Usually, it’s fingers crossed for a new group like this, and if the tracks are promising, perhaps then the blog world will come a-knocking. However, when your members’ resumés include time with the Unicorns and the Arcade Fire, attention from the indie world-at-large comes just a little quicker. With only one track floating around the internet (“Perfect Fit”) and no Myspace or Facebook page to speak of, the band has already accrued a fair amount of anticipation for their recorded debut.
Unlike his ex-Unicorns counterpart Nick Thornburn, who has been busy making music under a multitude of names (Th’ Corn Gangg, Islands, Human Highway, Reefer), Alden Penner has remained relatively quiet since the Canadian indie pop duo exploded in 2004, with only a single 7” and a few performances as Dub Intefadah to his name post-Unicorns. Now nearing a proper debut of his new band, Clues have provided only a few, well, clues, to what the group will sound like. From “Perfect Fit”, it seems that Clues embraces the shambling, chaotic spirit of the Unicorn’s swan song “Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone?”, with “Perfect Fit” sharing the album’s love of long, sprawling indie melodies that are simultaneously inventive and utterly hummable.
Adding to the mix are Brendan Reed (ex-Arcade Fire) and Bethany Or, who complete Alden’s self-proclaimed mix of Nintendo noises, double drums and indie-pop melody. Listening to “Perfect Fit”, the track’s title proves true after a few spins reveal the lithe pop song within the track’s ambitious structure. Driven at first by a simple, bouncing Casio line, the song opens up into a Peter Gabriel-era Genesis-meets-Neutral Milk Hotel ending that delivers an unexpectedly bombastic end to an otherwise compact song.
Again proving that great indie rock flows like water in our neighbors up North, Clues have a debut LP announced for a Spring 2009 release. Clues have already shown potential with the meager scraps they’ve sent to Pitchfork and Stereogum, and all evidence points to an excellent SF live debut at the Rickshaw Stop. TYLER MCCAULEY
