CMJ Music Marathon 2009: Clare & The Reasons @ Mercury Lounge

Clare & The Reasons; Josh Mease; Warpaint
@ Mercury Lounge
New York, NY - October 20, 2009

A very Indie-pop 2009 CMJ Music Marathon for Sonic Parthenon kicked off with the always very Indie-pop Clare & The Reasons though technically it kicked off with Warpaint and really, Clare and co. aren't really Indie-pop anymore by conventional definitions. The new Reasons record, Arrow, is something of a departure from the catchy and whimsical first LP, The Movie. It's a little more dense, relying more on instrumentation and Clare's vocals than the melodies and chimes of the prior record. In an interesting live-wise development, the band has been cut seemingly in half with the whole string section of charmers gone, and a laptop has been brought in for some minor backing track. The effervescent red scheme is gone too replaced with various casual displays of - surprise, surprise - singular arrows on each band member, and some fake woods-type display. But the spirit and mission of Clare & The Reasons are unchanged, and the band makes it work as it explores new ways and sounds.

Josh Mease is still the folkie-looking but Jazz-inspired artist he was back in January and the songs still have zip in all the right places. He'd be quite at home in Newport.

Warpaint are a California group that sort of tear it up at points but then take it low. Their drawn-out cover of the old classic "My Guy" was cute for the first couple minutes but wore thin for the remaining few minutes.