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album // City
Difficult second album for Client? I don't
think so. City expands on the formula outlined on their debut,
self-titled album but also sees the girls move away from that album's
core theme of sexual dominance and gender politics into other areas,
such as the outstandingly beautiful 'One Day At A Time'. It's also
seen Client raise their profile significantly via three collaborations
- duets with Depeche Mode's Martin L. Gore, head (and
as I write, now ex-) Libertine Carl Barat, and troubled ex-Libertine
(and Babyshambles') Pete Doherty all contributed to this
album's widened appeal. As I write, the third single from this album,
'Pornography' (the collaboration with Barat) has just charted outside
of the UK top twenty. An upcoming slot supporting Erasure
on their Erasure Show tour should also prove lucrative for
Kate Holmes and Sarah Blackwood. City was produced
by Joe Wilson and Client, and mixed by Paul Tipler
for 140db.
City's second single, the media-bashing shimmery
pop of 'Radio' kickstarts proceedings, it's sorrow-filled piano
sound leading us to the buzzing electro groove of 'Come On', which
features a wickedly effective grainy synth riff and an urgent chorus.
The sparse, Normal-esque 'Overdrive', with its springy bass
and drilling synths heads for an early Mute vibe with conviction,
also featuring some classic raw backing vocal harmonies from Martin
Gore. His vocals add a desperate, impassioned edge to the song as
he duets with Sarah on the chorus of 'And I want you' - it's
a well-trodden lyrical theme for the anguished Depeche songwriter,
but one that never tires.
'One Day At A Time', detailing the emotional recovery
from a relationship break-up is moving, majestic synthpop par
excellence, its serene strings and sincere melodies providing
a moving gloss to this song. It's the fragile theme of acceptance
and resignation - 'You're still on my mind / That's my life'
sighs a hurt Blackwood - that gets me every time. 'Cracked' is a
short instrumental link to the first single (using the same instrumentation
as 'Burning Up', the B-side of that single), the punishing hard
electronics of 'In It For The Money', which itself segues into 'Pornography'.
The duet with Doherty, 'Down To The Underground' (still my least
favourite Client track) follows, but it's no different from the
version which graced the flipside of 'In It For The Money' (someone
at the record company is, by the looks of things).
'The Chill Of October' is a string-led epic where
Blackwood provides her most stirring vocal performance to date,
even if its lyrical description of a painful breakup is hardly the
most uplifting experience. 'Theme' is a retro instrumental with
a prominent, elastic bassline that feels like it was timewarped
in from Michael Jackson's Thriller out-takes. Sadly it is
not a cover of either the Public Image or Sabres Of Paradise songs
of the same song, but it is naggingly groovy. 'Don't Call Me Baby'
is gleeful, euphoric electropop of the highest calibre. It feels
like Blackwood and Holmes looked each other and said to one another
'Let's stop writing edgy, gritty synth tracks and write a classic
eighties pop track', then promptly pushed all their favourite Erasure-isms
and Dare hooks through the mixer. The closing sounds are
so similar to OMD's 'Genetic Engineering' to almost be copyright
testing.
'It's Rock And Roll'? Well, actually ladies, it's
not - it's bittersweet electropop, and after throwing off those
'cool' moves on the last song, there's no stopping them; this is
a melodic stomper with layers of crystal clear synth melodies.
The piano sound that graces 'Radio' tinges the melancholy
closer, 'Everything Must End'. It's a depressing end to the album
featuring a very Vince Clarke middle eight and a wintery
chill thanks to its graceful two-part vocal harmonies. It's a notably
less aggressive Client that steps out on City, no swearing
that I can hear, but still the same retro-referencing edge. We need
more.
single // In It For The Money
Oh dear. All is not well with Sarah Blackwood
(Client B). Client's first album playfully toyed with
the immorality of sexual power, and now they've taken to slagging
off corporate culture. 'Work hard? / Why should I?' Blackwood
sings on 'In It For The Money', over a steady, unwavering drum loop
and grainy, phasing synths. Siren-style noises and that popular
'megaphone' distortion vocal effect gives this a combative edge
- expect your boardroom to be defaced by Client soon. I heard 'In
It For The Money' performed live recently, and it took me a while
to get used to the single version after that - somehow live the
beats are more prominent and more punishing.
There are some for whom the attractiveness of this
single will be the B-side, 'Down In The Underground', featuring
the occasionally Marc Almond-esque vocals of ex-Libertines
rabble-rouser Pete Doherty. Featuring a very familiar old-school
drum pattern and some nicely echoing synth piano, this is classic
eighties-style electropop that recalls Japan and early Depeche
in equal measure. Second B-side 'Burning Up' is perhaps better,
a more accessible, more poppy track, and is certainly one of the
least frantic track the girls have put together thus far. A soaring,
emotional and moving track, it's perhaps the closest Client have
got to Sarah's Dubstar days, but also has something of an
Assembly / Yazoo feel to the arrangement. Expect great
things from the new album City.
single // Radio
Those familiar with the music of Client will
by now be au fait with their penchant for hard-edged beats
and confrontational lyrics. It may therefore come as a surprise
to find that 'Radio', the second single from their second album
City, is actually a very pretty, if maudlin, synthpop number
with no aggression at all. It moves along at a quickened pace, with
little cyclical synth-piano patterns that sound like New Order
and an emotional central melody from Depeche's 'Blasphemous
Rumours'. Client B's lyrics recall the resigned, depressed
tone that darkened the otherwise gorgeous pop of Dubstar's
Disgraceful. It's quite moving, the line 'No music on
my radio' intended to signify boredom and monotony, or maybe
it's a dig at the current state of pop.
The 7" features the new track 'Dirty Little
Secret', which I'll tell you about when I've got around to listening
to it.
The CD single features four alternate mixes. The
Rex The Dog remix is a strong electro-dance track, with all
manner of synth noises, sounding not unlike Francois Kevorkian's
classic rewiring of Kraftwerk and Yazoo. Cicada
offer up another high quality Client remix, has harder beats than
Rex's version but in its use of reverb and fragments of melody,
manages to distill the melancholy emotion of the original. The Kraftwerk
vocal effect is a genius addition also. The 'Love Warning' version
by Boosta is a single-length near-accapella oddity, retaining
the full vocal and adding a minimal soundfield of small synth sounds
- no beats - that gradually echo and overlap toward the end. Finally,
if the single edit feels a bit too short, the final mix is a traditional
extended version, which has still been edited down (by an unusually-involved
Andy Fletcher). You get to hear instrumental sections and
extra vocals skimmed over in the edit, as the best extended versions
should.
single // Pornography
'Pornography' is the third single to be taken from
City, and is Client's best-charting single to date,
reaching the lower reaches of the UK top 25. This is largely due
to the featuring of former Libertines front man Carl Barat
on backing vocals. A simple tale of monogamy, 'Pornography' is a
modern love song, nothing controversial in the slightest (despite
its attention-grabbing title) - unless in this modern age monogamy
is considered something kinky and unconventional. It's certainly
got a sleazy, electro-glam swing to this song - lots of dirty, phasing
melodies, plinky-plonk synths and some classic old-time jazz standard
'la la la's from Barat. Together, Sarah Blackwood
and Barat - with her northern accent and his nasal (so nasal in
fact it could be considered phlegmy), deep tones - provide what
could be an update of Human League's 'Don't You Want Me'.
I've only been able to track down the second CD
of the single, which includes an old-fashioned extended mix by Paul
Tipler (but edited down by Depeche Mode's Andy Fletcher
and Anne Carruthers). I like simple mixes like this - you
get to hear more of the track itself, not another artist's re-interpretation.
This disc also includes a live version of Billy Idol's 'White Wedding'
recorded at the girls' regular Being Boiled night at Notting
Hill Arts Club. Not being a massive fan of Idol's pop-punk eighties
track, I was floored by this fast-paced electronic revision. Blackwood
and Kate Holmes provide some excellent harmonies, while Joe Wilson
kicks in with some phasing guitar work. It also reminds you how
Client are completely on-point live. The video is included as the
third track.
I do have the 7", which includes the new track
'Tuesday Night', but haven't heard it yet. There is also a Greek
promo doing the rounds which includes BBC sessions of 'Radio', 'It's
Rock And Roll' and 'In It For The Money'. Inevitably, the tracks
are flattened of their dynamic somewhat, but different aspects of
the songs do come out. I've been looking for a more punchy version
of 'In It For The Money' after hearing the superior version delivered
live - until I can locate a decent live bootleg, this version will
have to do.
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