The brooding debut album from Cambridge, MA-based Clairvoyants, "Your New Boundaries', is both haunting and haunted. Composed of lush, dark harmonies coupled with lyrical content that can be elegiac or brutally stark....
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The brooding debut album from Cambridge, MA-based Clairvoyants, "Your New Boundaries', is both haunting and haunted. Composed of lush, dark harmonies coupled with lyrical content that can be elegiac or brutally stark.
"Your New Boundaries" is the brooding debut from Cambridge, MA-based Clairvoyants, a seasoned five piece group assembled around singer/songwriter Brian Dunn.
From its opening line,"That city fucked you up.." there is an undeniably compelling emotive power, understating the dark, complex shades of narrative that follow. The overall sound is somber and lulling, pensively emotional. It is as haunting as it is haunted.
The songs hold slowed, echoing memory, distorted by reflection that makes the bitter appear lovely. In them, the communication of loss is given a pure form, while longing, injury and the threats of aloneness are voiced.
"Your New Boundaries is a world unto itself..... It is an amazing and important album, and marks the arrival of a true and unique talent." - Jesse Perkins
"Your New Boundaries" was produced by Colin Rhinesmith and Brian Dunn at their studio, The Longhouse. Colin engineered and played keyboard instruments. Joe McMahon played double bass. Steve Scully played drums. Barry Reise (who has played with the likes of Lionel Hampton and Joe Lovano in the course of his long career) guests on trumpet and flugelhorn.
Clairvoyants have played with Arab Strap, Thalia Zedek (Come), Songs:Ohia, Damon and Naomi, Shannon Wright, Wheat, Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters), and Azure Ray, Hayden, among others.
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Reviews
4+++ out of 6
Slow, haunting, and sparse. Cambridge five piece Clairvoyants are a lesson in subdued restraint. The band's tunes creep by slowly and feature echoed instruments that support casual vocals. The compositions on Your New Boundaries are extremely slow methodical pieces. The tunes are methodical and hypnotic, often retreating to the bare bones essentials of one instrument and/or vocal. The main point of all music should be to get the point across, and this is what makes this CD so intriguing. Using very little, Clairvoyants manage to get their point across quite clearly. Main singer/songwriter Brian Dunn has a very personal vocal style that makes these tunes most inviting. At times, this band's material comes across like a slowed down version of The Durutti Column (particular the guitars). At other times the music sounds something like a more modern and atmospheric version of Donovan (or even Bert Jansch for that matter). If you're looking for upbeat energy, look elsewhere. If you're in the mood for slow and strange restraint, this band will most certainly hit the target. Definitely NOT like other bands currently on the horizon... - Babysue/LMNOP
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