Crying High/R McClure & Tall Shadows
Crying High
Victory // 2010 Records
Crying High is the project from Toronto born multimedia artist and psychedelic crooner, D Kleiser. His latest album Victory is a psychedelic seven song trip, indeed. In the words of Kleiser, Crying High is "80s Disco and dead pop slowed down beyond danceable utility played as careening vocal soundscapes scream-crooning pleas at shadows." I'm not sure exactly what scream-crooning into the shadows sounds like, but yeah... I get it. Synth-punk, 80s disco vibes, and shadow scream-croons are definitely the feels I'm feeling with Victory.
Released internationally Sept 18 by Vancouver’s 2010 Records, Victory is Kleiser's Post-Vapornoir homage to nourishing time spent in the small island city of Victoria, British Columbia. Victoria locals Bridal Party, Brite Boy and Nature Walk (Teenage Wedding) are featured as collaborators and mastered by Cartoon Lizards Ritchie Hemphill.
According to Kleiser, Victory represents "a year's progress into the shadow work: exploration into the truth of lessons learnt, put into action. Cathartic dancing and screaming to the digestive sounds of the porto-emotional life of every 90s child. “Victory” is the small moment of triumph at the end of a long, swirling tunnel. On the other side? Sizzlin’ summer-time affirmation anthems that fuck. The waves have been braved and now it's time to rest, recollect and dance before the next problem arises." Again... I get it. I may not have the same poetic vocab, but I sure am picking up what this cat is putting down.
Album influences include "Gary Numan, Italo-Disco hero’s Doctors Cat, Degrassi Jr. High (sweeeet!), and René Daumals unfinished non-euclidean geometry masterpiece “Mount Analogue”.
The album starts off with the noir leaning “1933”, dark synth post-punk vibe, reminiscent of Joy Division or The Cure. A couple of moody, atmospheric instrumental interlude tracks follow and then we start the upswing in general mental wellness with the track “Move On”. AND THEN... we get hit with “All Summer Long”, an upbeat summery synth-pop bop that just makes a person feel nice. “Pursuit of Happiness” brings in a sexy, dark 80s electro tempo that easily could be on the soundtrack from the movie Drive. The album finishes off with a Sigur Rós-esque atmospheric tune that brings us calmly into Autumn.
If what Crying High and Kleiser were trying to do in Victoria during the apocalyptic, dread-inducing COVID-19 shut-downs was to "rest, recollect and dance before the next problem arises", Victory acts as their scream-crooning into the shadows soundtrack to those very actions. Scream-croon on, brother.
- Mo Lawrance
R McClure & Tall Shadows
R McClure & Tall Shadows // Factotum Cassettes & Oddities
R McClure grew up in Nicola Valley where radio country and rodeo culture were locked in a perpetual two-step dance. The country du jour and the behaviour that it soundtracked were enough to send McClure away on a punk rock-powered skateboard in search of better music and a better scene. In Vancouver he formed the dream pop group Shimmering Stars, recorded some fine albums, and toured internationally in support of them, but he remained an outsider in his own eyes. Fast forward a few years, and McClure has discovered a kindred spirit in the outsider persona adorned by some of golden age country’s biggest icons. On his new self-titled album, R McClure & Tall Shadows, McClure has added a classic country twist to his shoegazey dream-pop sound, and the result is a genre-defying record full of tender story songs.
Embracing one’s country roots after playing in punk and indie bands has become a bit of a trend in the last decade with seasoned acts like Black Lips going country for a record, Orville Peck exploding with his own brand of goth country, and Attack in Black’s Daniel Romano adopting a classic country persona and recording a slew of impeccable country albums. R McClure has exhibited the same unexpected interest in country music, and golden age country has certainly influenced this new batch of songs, but McClure hasn’t abandoned his wheelhouse; he’s just added a new dimension to his songs. McClure adds country guitar licks like some bands add synthesizers. The new element is noticeable, but it doesn’t always define the songs. When Attack in Black fans first hear tracks from Daniel Romano’s Come Cry With Me they might feel like they’re being pranked, since Romano’s solo country stuff doesn’t sound anything like his previous band, but McClure has kept the things he does well and added some new country flair to the mix.
The steel guitar and honky tonk formula bass in “Never Love Me Again” recall the classic country of old, but the vocals lean more towards shoegaze. There are country moments, but there are also moments that sound like The Shins. Echoes of early 2010’s bands like Crocodiles, The Raveonettes, the Drums, or even of their godfather The Jesus and Mary Chain can be heard throughout the album, even though those bands never really flirted with country music much.The melody in the chorus, and the guitar tone in “Big Night” match the country imagery of the album cover, but the production sounds more like old Black Lips. Heck, “Strangers” sounds more influenced by Pet Sounds than by any record Johnny Cash made. In fact, “Sweet Thing” and “Looking For An Enabler” take cues from pre-Pet Sounds Beach Boys, not to mention 50’s rock. Like Orville Peck, R McClure shows an appreciation of 50’s and 60’s music of various genres on this full-length. With all these reference points, it’d be a little unfair to call R McClure & Tall Shadows just a country album.
R McClure & Tall Shadows certainly covers new ground, but there’s enough Shimmering Stars in the new sound to keep fans of McClure’s previous work happy. Only time can tell how far this country influence will take R McClure, but this remains a perfect bridge record. It’s not a totally new transformation, but that’s part of why this album succeeds. It’s not a gimmick record. It merely shows the artist’s growth. R McClure & Tall Shadows has enough country presence to make indie music fans optimistically play it for their uncle who only listens to country radio, and that uncle probably won’t get it, but that’s because it’s actually good.
- Devon Dozlaw
