After Minotaur was released in 2010, The Clientele officially came out and announced they would be an indefinite hiatus. Since then singer and principal songwriter for the band Alasdair MacLean has stayed busy. He released two albums with Lupe Núñez-Fernández as Amor de Días, issued a Clientele best-of called Alone and Unreal, oversaw the reissues of Suburban Light and Strange Geometry. In his personal life, himself and Núñez-Fernández started a family together. Uncertainty loomed around The Clientele’s future till the band began work on Music for the Age of Miracles, which is slated for release on September 22 via Merge.
Today, The Clientele are sharing a music video for “Everyone You Meet” off their forthcoming album. This marks the first since the band shared “Bookshop Casanova” from 2007’s God Save the Clientele.
Director Paul Kelly on the film format of choice:
“I still have the original Super 8 cameras that I used when I first began shooting music promos in the 1980s, although I had no idea if they still worked and, as we didn’t have the time or budget to get them serviced, just took a chance and hoped for the best.
Apart from its aesthetic charm, the original reason I began shooting on Super 8 was its (then) low cost, but with digital filming now effectively free, Super 8 seems quite an exotic choice. It is not cheap, and the sound of the camera motor is a constant reminder of the cash running through the shutter. There are various filters and effects that can mimic a filmic look, but there is no substitute for the real thing.
Having shot all ten film cartridges, there was a slightly anxious two-week wait to see if anything had actually come out, and with the deadline looming, I began to form a digital back-up plan just in case! I still get a sense of amazement whenever I see film rushes; it seems miraculous that the process actually works at all.
The Clientele’s Alasdair MacLean:
“We knew Paul had filmed the Lea Valley in [Saint Etienne’s short film] What Have You Done Today Mervyn Day? and that he was interested in forgotten parts of London. We asked him to make the North Circular ring road and the buildings and streets around our way—New Southgate, N11—look beautiful. Which, amazingly, he did. He captured the North Circular vernacular and hung out with us in some of our favourite places, beginning with a couple of epic walks along the A406 ring road in the pouring rain.”
Pre-order for Music for the Age of Miracles is available now in the Merge store now on CD and LP, where you can bundle it with an exclusive t-shirt.
The Clientele will be hitting the road, which will included a return to North America for their first shows since 2014. Check out the full list of dates below:
Sep 22 London, UK – Oslo
Oct 31 Toronto, ON – Great Hall
Nov 02 Washington, DC – Rock & Roll Hotel
Nov 03 Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle
Nov 04 Boston, MA – The Sinclair
Nov 05 Brooklyn, NY – The Bell House
Nov 07 Chicago, IL – Subterranean
Nov 09 Seattle, WA – Neumos
Nov 10 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
Nov 12 San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
Nov 14 Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom
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