The Clements Brothers
There is a long line of vocal duos that aspire to an easy, eloquent grace. Achieving the perfect balance of tension and resonance that elevates harmony to the sublime is a rare, elusive thing. George (guitar) and Charles (upright bass) Clements have an ace up their melodious sleeves. Identical twins from the heart of New England, they have been playing and writing music together for as long as they can remember.
Dandelion Breeze, their debut full-length recording, unfurls with an unhurried, in-the-pocket confidence usually reserved for those long of tooth and furrowed of brow. Joined by drummer Mike Harmon (Grain Thief) and a collection of gifted friends, the brothers have crafted a piece of art at once enthralling and intimate, uplifting and serene. The band is a fusion of each member's musical journey, and the result is a sound all its own, filled with vocal harmonies, instrumental virtuosity, and a genuine love of song.
Born to singer-songwriter parents, George and Charles have been playing music together since they could haul themselves up onto a piano bench. Various middle and high school bands followed, with the brothers first finding prominence in the internationally touring grass-roots band, ‘The Lonely Heartstring Band,’ with whom they put out two albums on Rounder Records. Most recently, George could be found playing the role of Paul Simon in the hit national act The Simon and Garfunkel Story, while Charles often joins the stage with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Now, ‘The Clements Brothers’ marks their first original project together. “With our last band, we were mostly writing separately and bringing songs to the band to be arranged,” explains Charles. “A lot of Dandelion Breeze started with George and I sitting in a room in a log cabin up in Maine, just jamming on different ideas, until we had one we were excited about.” Their mutual respect – not to mention a healthy dose of brutal sibling honesty – drives the brothers to strive for the exceptional.
Thematically, Dandelion Breeze centers on a very human yearning for reconciliation and understanding. “The involuntary timeout the world recently experienced gave us a lot of time to reflect on the past and create a new vision of the future” says George, “so the idea of change and rebirth is central.” Their father passed just a few months before the pandemic lock-down started; deep processing and reflection was already happening within the family. “He was a huge presence in our lives and his absence put us in a place of vulnerability and reflection” Charles explains. “The track Never Alone is a kind of elegy to him. “As the Crow Flies” was inspired by his love of crows. That’s the thing about writing songs - it forces you to sit and think and meditate about a certain event or idea for a long time. It’s therapeutic in a way.”
Fittingly, Dandelion Breeze was recorded predominantly at their father’s writing studio in Maine, affectionately dubbed Picture Book Studio. An author, the space he used as his studio has both lovely acoustics and deep energy. Tracked mostly live – it helps that Harmon is also a top-flight audio engineer – the record breathes worn wood and dancing dust-mote sunlight.
In addition to the brothers and Harmon (we met Mike at The Ossipee Valley Music Festival in Maine during a late-night dance tent set” George tells us. “He sat in with us and the musical connection was immediate.”), the record features friend and phenomenal fiddler Jenna Moynihan (Laura Cortese, Milk Carton Kids), the extraordinary pedal steel of Rich Hinman (Sara Bareilles, Molly Tuttle), and the tasty playing of pianist/accordionist Brooks Milgate. Charles’s wife, Abigale Reisman (Ezekiel’s Wheels Klezmer Band, Tredici Bacci) played violin on a track written for their mutual late friend Daniel. Cape AnnSymphony's Concertmaster and Kentucky native Scott Moore - who also runs a recording studio in his basement and helped the brothers make their very first demos – performed and arranged the strings on ‘Call It a Night’. The record was mixed and mastered by Dan Cardinal (Josh Ritter, Lake Street Dive) at Dimension Sound in Boston, MA.
Releases
