Clipping is the latest album by Paris based French American Duo Special Friend who are Guillaume and Erica, who recorded the album at Studio Claudio in the french countryside, with Alexis Fugain and Margaux Bouchaudon taking care of recording engineering et al before being mixed by Syd Kemp.
The album opens with Paints A Picture of sun dappled indie guitars, wide open spaces, twin vocals painting pictures for us to get immersed in. The title track Clipping is the sound of a perfectly trimmed tree about to blossom in your ears, cool, laid back and totally captivating, this will draw you into the world they are creating.
Isolation is driven by the tambourine and acoustic guitar and Erica's crystalline vocals, taking us deep into the country, this has a bucolic majesty, laid back and beautiful somewhere between Opal and The Sundays.
Theoretical is speedy jangling guitar's theorising about all sorts of stuff with angelic harmonies and cool detailed production, that moves the vocals around the speakers to draw you further into the world of Special Friend. Breakfast is something they don't want to hurry anymore, they want more than the time it takes for a quick croissant, enjoying the first food of the day, fuzzy guitars and keyboards go wild at the end.
Mold is slow, sleepy stretched note hazy guitars, harmonies waving you goodbye, because you always want to be somewhere else, the sadness in the guitar solo is palpable, no matter how much you chase them they are still going.
Nothing is encased in ringing acoustic guitars and feelings of ennui driving you insane, will they ever have something to do, to get them past the blank feelings they have. Unwound isn't in tribute to the legendary band, this is more about life unravelling, relationships falling to pieces, the yearning you feel, while strings gently bend towards your will, with hope on the horizon.
Mustard has the biggest groove on the album, this has a subtle dance edge to the jangling guitars and weird synths, arriving to melt your mind, while you wonder if you'll ever cut the Mustard, or will the phasers get you first.
Village has very live sounding drums and keyboards that could be vamping in a Village hall. Sanctuary is a bass led song of love and longing with pared back percussion and slow lazily picked guitar notes carefully adding textures.
The album closes with the longest song on the album all 7 minutes of OOO that opens in a Spiritualized meets Crystallized Movements opiated repetitive riff and motif, add in Erica's vocals that have echoes of Laetitia Sadier and you have an intoxicating tune.
Find Out More at https://specialfriend.bandcamp.com/album/clipping https://howlinbananarecords.bandcamp.com/album/clipping https://www.facebook.com/specialfriendband https://www.instagram.com/specialfriendmusic/
