The Clientele

The Clientele gives us psychedelic pop on stage and vague ramblings online.

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More About

• James Hornsey
• Alasdair MacLean
• Robert Browning
• Mark Keen
• Brian O'Shaughnessy

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After a false start in 1991, Alasdair MacLean (vocals, guitar) and James Hornsey (bass) relaunched the British band the Clientele in 1997. Known for their soft, mellow pop that's best heard when you're in a first-love daze, the Clientele (Mark Keen on drums rounds out the trio) says it plays psychedelic pop. Influenced by the '60s L.A. bands, symbolist poetry and surrealist art, the group posts long poems by Robert Browning on its blog, along with vague ramblings about, um, well, it's hard to say what they're about because they're vague and rambling, get it? Last summer they released their second CD, Strange Geometry, with producer Brian O'Shaughnessy, and their tune "(I Can't Seem) To Make You Mine" was featured on the Sandra Bullock-Keanu Reeves film The Lake House. Another CD is in the works, following their U.S. tour. The group gets a more enthusiastic response in the United States than at home in England. Maybe too enthusiastic; they complain about dazed fans pounding on the stage door, demanding to see them and then lecturing them about Phish. Hey, just because you bought a T-shirt doesn't mean you get to give the Clientele a discourse on psycho-pop, okay?