Clearance have trapped an essence of US college rock – the strident, charismatic, poetically noisy one that starred Pavement, Buffalo Tom, Dinosaur Jr and Archers of Loaf – and pencilled the outlines with thicker tunes.
The phrasing is straight out of Malkmus’ copybook and the guitar’s languid whip nods to J Mascis, but this is no pastiche. Like the best bands – and just from their first four songs, you know Clearance have got something special, an essence of their own – they add their own magic potion to the mix.
They’ve self-released a 7” ep, Dixie Motel Two-Step. Do yourself a favour and buy it.
Thanks - well spotted. Glad you are out there trawling the badlands for new treasure so the rest of us don't have to. Just bought a couple of the 7" singles. Bit of Pavement crossed with Velvet Crush but quite a bit of their own crisp thing too. Nice.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I love this record. There'll be more songs from Clearance, they tell me, which I'm certain will be great. Their postage rates defy the recent hikes, so they're obviously good people.
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