Clem Leek - Lifenotes

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release
Soundclips

4...according to our Brian on Fri 14 Oct, 2011.

This appears to be Clem Leek's "24 Postcards in Colour" with around twice the amount of tracks as his lovely collection for Hibernate. Unfurling with sombre wisps of drift, piano flourishes and a Morse code track that I never want to fade out, I'm reminded heavily of the Le Lendemain CD from a couple of years back. Now we're into the journey sights you may see are yearning chamber violin yawns seduced by sensual guitar exploration, sad-eyed choccie box piano interludes a la early Nils Frahm, meandering sun-kissed post-rock daydreams, vignettes comprised of field recording hiss and two-rooms-down-the-hallway piano and some lively birdsong sound-tracking some more longing piano musings. A sweet collection of briefer, charming pieces, lovingly rendered and presented in another sweet Christopher Robin-esque sleeve. I like this guys stuff lots and this seems like a nice counter-release to file alongside the brilliant 'Holly Lane'.

To play these clips you need to either update your browser (Norman Records recommends Google Chrome) or update your Flash plugin.

Clem Leek is a UK based composer and multi-instrumentalist (piano, violin, guitar, and various other instruments). He studied at Bath Spa University and earned a Creative Arts degree; following it up with a Masters in Music Composition. He nds inspiration among his neo-classical contemporaries such as Max Richter, Keith Kenni, Nils Frahm, Peter Broderick and Dustin O’Halloran as well as minimalist pioneers Steve Reich and Philip Glass. He’s released music on various labels including his own label Schedios (“Through The Annular”), Experimedia (“Snow Tales”), Hibernate (“Holly Lane”, “A Letter”) and Brian Records (“The Plan”).

He also appears on the compilation “For Nihon” on Keith Kenni’s Unseen Music imprint. Clem’s latest output, full length album “Lifenotes”, will be released on Drifting Falling.

“Lifenotes is a combination of old and new pieces, each one is very close to my heart. I wanted to keep the album very basic and raw. In my previous cd’s (Holly Lane especially) my emphasis was on creating rich and dense soundworlds. For this cd it was all about getting back to basics and recording pieces that were simple, which hapens to be my best way of writing.”

Clem’s writing process varies. When asked about it he said, “I am not one for sticking to structures so I tend to write quite freely. Sometimes I write it down and sometimes not. For piano material I tend to sit down and just improvise, but for more complex soundscaping or for pieces that require more attention to the production side I use Logic & Ableton live, plugins and eects.”

Tracklisting:

1. Page One
2. Past The Pasture and Beyond The Hill
3. Breaking Down
4. My Little Boat
5. Trying Too Hard
6. Apt. #4116
7. You’re So Very Far Away
8. The Middle Part
9. November 11th
10. The Diary I Never Kept
11. Hopscotch
12. Circular Motion
13. Origami Soldiers
14. Walter

Be the first to review this record. Best reviewer each month gets £10 off their next order!