When listening to Alex Clare’s The Lateness of the Hour on repeat for the past several months, I
pictured Clare as dark, handsome, and brooding, a man whose soul poured like
liquid from his throat. When I arrived at the Regency Ballroom on Tuesday for
his concert, Clare turned out to be a rather short British ginger, complete
with full beard and knitted beret, whose awkwardness was endearing and whose
smile was only slightly less jolly than Santa Claus.
The crowd at the Regency Ballroom was an unexpected mix of
families, young professionals, and messy, drunken high schoolers. My attention
was frequently drawn away from Clare by the saga unfolding directly in front of
me: two drunk friends (or gay lovers?) had a falling out, one left, and the
other made friends with a girl next to him when he offered his matchbook to
light her joint. As I watched with trepidation and amusement, the two began
smoking together until a man with an obnoxious nose piercing in front of them asked
them to stop. “I have asthma,” he said. “It’s a real thing.”
With effort I refocused my energies on Clare, whose
performance during this first part of the concert left something to be desired. His nerves were apparent during the first
half of concert; Clare seemed uncomfortable in his skin, hiding behind a
combination of hat, beard, and microphone and bobbing his head awkwardly during
instrumental sections.
Perhaps some of his nerves are excusable; this is his first
tour and he is relatively new to fame. Clare’s song “Too Close,” which
accompanied Microsoft’s latest advertising campaign for Internet Explorer 9,
debuted at #68 on the Billboard Hot 100 and even reached #1 in Germany in March
2012. The song, thankfully, is much better than the browser, and many of
Clare’s other songs feature the same soulful voice, powerful pop lyrics, and
driving bass that places them somewhere between soul, pop, and electronic.
Even so, it took the commercialization of “Too Close” to get
The Lateness of the Hour off the
ground. The album was released in the U.K. in July 2011 with little stir and
resulted in Clare being dropped from his record label. However, Universal
Republic came knocking after the exposure from the Microsoft commercial and the
album was released in the U.S. last May.
Clare’s background is eclectic. Born in Northwest London, he began his
musical career with the trumpet when he was seven. He trained to be a chef in
order to continue playing music. In 2006, he briefly dated singer Amy Winehouse
and is a practicing Orthodox Jew. His music, influenced by everything from the
jungle and garage music of his youth to soul, dubstep, and dancehall, is just
as difficult to label.
After hearing him sing live, The Lateness of the Hour begins to sound flat, the process of
recording eliminating a portion of Clare’s vocal depth. Live, he belted every
song, adding effortless vocal flourishes to his somewhat simple melodies. The
power and rich quality of his voice was unexpected and overwhelming, but he
faced the danger of over singing, proving his status as a novice performer.
Several of his ballads suffered when he sang them at the same intensity as the dance-pop
numbers.
However, once Clare put his hands on an acoustic guitar and
simply played his music, he began to blossom as a performer. He sheepishly
introduced an acoustic cover of American folk song “Goodnight Irene” by
explaining that it was the first song he learned on the guitar. The sentimentalism fit him perfectly, and
when he expressed his hope that the audience would enjoy the song despite its
depressing lyrics, I was sold. The same humble, sheepish quality would appear
later when he taught the audience the chorus to “Where Is The Heart?” and asked
us to sing with him. “I hope you don’t leave me high and dry,” he said
earnestly. No one did.
Standout songs included “Up All Night,” which had everyone
dancing and singing along, and a bass dropping “Too Close,” the song that
started it all. Clare even reprised crowd favorite “Treading Water,” singing
with a new flair and performing with a new confidence.
After the show-stopping “Too Close,” Clare interestingly
chose to close with piano ballad “Won’t Let You Down.” With his fantastic
pianist almost stealing the spotlight, Clare sang simply and touchingly,
harkening back to his singer-songwriter roots. Two audience members near the
front raised their lighters, the two small flames a tribute to honesty,
imperfection, and the refreshing glow of raw, untarnished talent. It was a perfect finish to a night of awkward
affability and sentimental spirit from a new artist who defies both genre and expectation.
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