FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Music

Stream Clearance's Debut Album of Slack Indie Pop

We are tipping the Chicago four-piece have a few copies of 'Slanted and Enchanted' kicking around their record collections.

Image: Stephania Dulowski

I’m not going to lie. It’s hard not to think of Stockton, California’s favourite sons Pavement when listening to Clearance’s Rapid Rewards.

Such is the contagiously snappy and slacker pop on the Chicago band’s debut LP that at times it sounds like it could be the Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain basement tapes.

It’s not all Malkmus and co. (some songs sound like if The Fall were from Chapel Hill) but there’s no denying the Pavement influence.

Advertisement

Clearance started as just Mike Bellis and drummer Arthur Velez writing and recording songs in a friend’s basement studio with the goal of learning how to make their own record from start to finish. After a couple of 7’s and the addition of Kevin Fairbairn and Greg Obis on guitar and bass, they recorded Rapid Rewards right after a short tour around the Midwest.

Listen to the album below and read a short interview with Bellis.

Noisey: Have you been to Stockton, California?
Mike Bellis: You only go to Mecca once, right? We’ve yet to make the pilgrimage, but when we do we’ll make it count.

Are you used to the Pavement comparisons or do you find then annoying?
It's more flattering than anything. I mean, Pavement was a great band, and like a lot of people our age we grew up listening to their records. If we end up sounding like them at all, it's probably just a consequence of my limited range as a singer. It's more natural for me to talk-sing, or otherwise be arch or conversational in my delivery, I guess. As a group, we're probably more in our element recycling Velvet Underground-style grooves than anything else. Besides, we could never match Pavement's enthusiasm for horse racing or REM trivia, to say the least. They're welcome to challenge us to Scrabble any day, though. We know all the two letter words.

I like "Parlance Quote". At first I thought it was in reference to a line from the great Jack Palance.
This one actually is a bit like REM, with the line about the rain and all, but with kind of a Kinks bridge. A heavy dose of post-grad malaise mixed with a bit of “Shangri-La”; like if Ray had student debt instead of a mortgage to pay off. I must have been in a bad mood writing this one. As for Jack Palance, well, he should probably be blamed more than most for The Legend of Curly’s Gold.

Rank these Chicago bands from best to worst: Cheap Trick, Shoes, Wilco. Urge Overkill?
You forgot Veruca Salt! Regarding Wilco, we actually named our first 7” as a kind of bizarro-tribute to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I don’t think many people got it.

What about these Pavement records: Slanted and Enchanted; Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain; Wowee Zowee; Brighten the Corners?
You’re from Australia, right? I should say Pacific Trim, but the correct answer is American Water.

‘Rapid Rewards’ is available Sept 25 through Tall Pat records/Unsatisfied Records