The Clientele - God Save the Clientele

God Save the Clientele is the portrait of a band comfortable in their artistic skin, a group that understands their strengths and confidently plays to them. The UK outfit's fourth LP is marked by lush, subdued orchestration and magnetic melodies; as the band weaves their way through fourteen exquisitely produced pieces of pop they reveal a certain late '60s influence (the band's MySpace page lists retro acts The Monkees, Love and The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band among their inspirations) on their sound which consistently falls in the vein of Belle and Sebastian or Merge labelmates Lambchop (Lambchop collaborator Mark Nevers guided the album's production). A cursory listen suggests a resemblance from each track to the next, especially in the hushed tones and dynamics of each song, but further exploration illuminates just how the band varies elements and arrangements in such a way as to create striking points of nuance. Album highlights include pace-setting opener "Here Comes the Phantom" which displays well the engaging vocals of Alasdair Maclean, the jazzy, postmodern feel of "The Dance of The Hours", the retro-flavored pop of "Somebody Changed" and the buoyant, bouncing rock of "Bookshop Casanova." God Save the Clientele is a project full of radiant activity and is an album not to be missed. [www.theclientele.co.uk]