ANDY CLOCKWISE + Clare & The Reasons + Garry Go

Sat 1st Dec 2007

The Luminaire presents
ANDY CLOCKWISE
+ Clare & The Reasons
+ Garry Go

Doors 7.30
£7 via WeGotTickets | £8 door

Andy Kelly is known to many as Andy Clockwise. He is also known as eccentric, charismatic, a peerless songwriter, enigmatic frontman and ‘so talented it’s almost unfair’ (The Daily Telegraph).

Andy's childhood diet of Motown and folk records, along with his insatiable hunger to master the drums, guitar, piano and bass in his early adolescence, go some way in explaining his propensity to buck the trends of the day to produce timeless pop and rock songs that stand the test of time.

"In writing such sophisticated material, and playing most of the instruments himself, Mr. Clockwise has bitten off more than most mere mortals musos could masticate, and spat out two very cool records." [Blunt Magazine (8/10)]

‘Andy Clockwise’ emerged after a brief stint at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and years of gigging in and around Sydney. Single-handedly writing, recording and producing his debut EP in 2002, the release Song Exhibition spawned a couple of high rotation singles on Triple J (‘Song for the Unemployed’ and ‘Every Song’), a healthy dose of critical claim and a bunch of new fans.

There are few debut long-players that can claim to be as ambitious, as thrilling and as unpredictable as Andy’s 2005 release, 'Classic FM'. Ostensibly a concept double-album with songs that stand up alone and together, it scored countless 4 and 5-star reviews, Triple J Feature Album of the Week, sold-out national tours (including a nationally-broadcast Annandale gig) and support slots with The Whitlams, INXS and Hugh Cornwall (The Stranglers).

"A remarkably broad and eclectic double CD. This one-man band has multiple personalities, all of them listener-friendly." [Who Magazine (4 stars)]

And deservedly so. 'Classic FM' is an album of paradoxes. The songs are simultaneously classic yet thoroughly modern. Radio-friendly yet unconventional. The influences are there, yet their marriage is unique: Bob Dylan with Prince, U2 with Sly & the Family Stone, '70s glam with '80s funk-rock.

In 2006, the momentum from 'Classic FM' took Andy across the Pacific. First, to New Zealand where he took part in the Mushroom Music Songwriters Workshop and then to the US, where he appeared in an Australian production as part of the New York Fringe Festival and at a critically-lauded showcase at Mo Pitkin's House of Satisfaction. 'Classic FM' also fell in the hands (and hearts) of A&R maestro Joe Berman and manager Alan Wolmark (Ben Folds Five, Guided by Voices), with whom Andy will continue to work as he focuses on making and taking his singular brand of rock ‘n' roll to the world.

Andy is currently living and working on his new album in Los Angeles.

"Like the perfect department store, Andy Clockwise has everything under one roof. The only thing more astonishing than how many styles he explores on this album, is how many he gets spot on." [The Sydney Morning Herald (4 stars)]

Clare Muldaur Manchon and her band The Reasons have produced an astounding mesmeric album - shimmeringly melodic, breathtakingly arranged and imbued with an other worldly cinematic imagination. Surely the most impressive orchestral pop debut this Autumn, 'The Movie' is lush and sinfully beautiful, featuring the likes of Van Dyke Parks, Sufjan Stevens and Gregoire Maret.

Clare & The Reasons’ music harkens back to the romance of a forgone era, through the eyes of a contemporary indie-chanteuse with a pop sensibility.

“The Movie is a sassy blast of symphonic jazz-noir that twins the demob-happy air of voguish revivalists the Puppini Sisters with the future-folk adventurism of your Joanna Newsoms...a belter of an album.” [Observer Music Monthly]

“The jazz-inflected arrangements are beautiful: with their water-colour wash of violins, bird-like flutes and swooning celeste they have the headt fragrance of an expensive perfume.” [The Guardian]

“Clare Muldaur Manchon is seemingly destined for stardom. The Movie is gentle but knowing; lushly arranged but noirish.” [Q]

Garry Go supports.

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