Clique – Top Field (2016)
Right from the first listen I loved the warmth of the amplified guitars. I wish I could tell you that they were using Marshall and Orange amplifiers but I just watched their video! However, I did recognise the warmth of the valves.
To my ears, the music sounds like what we know now as ‘Americana’ if you wanna put a rough label on it, with its organic sounding guitar elements. The occasional finger picking is similar to country music and the descending guitar lines are like something The Byrds and later what Tom Petty would employ (minus the Rickenbackers) but encompassing that warmth.
That sound, for me, conjures images of driving in a convertible with the roof down somewhere in the desert around Nevada. That sense of freedom. I’m sure that image means something to many people whether they have been there or not. Well, that’s how the music makes me feel anyway. Then again I might be talking out of my ass!
I really like the nuances played by the bass. It’s nice and melodic but also drives the song along. They are not the obvious notes that he could play, particularly during the end of the verse leading up to the bridge. When the bass is played in unison with the guitars the guitars provide some great chord inversions and the bass compliments well, which makes for goose bump type feelings.
The singer’s vocals are nicely laid-back and capture the feel of the track. He has a good range and never sounds like he is straining. But then, hello what’s this? The chorus rings out like something Blink 182 might have written. You know the kind you might hear in films like American Pie. American college rock or ‘sophomore’ as the Americans call it, i.e. music played by students in the second year of college or high school.
News to me. Thanks, Wikipedia!
It’s very accessible and it’s refreshing to hear the two different genres within one song. It seems like a breakaway from the norm to me, but then what would I know about American music today? And who gives a shit about my opinion anyway; I’m sure you’ve got your own!
Great stuff lads!
