You get a singer-songwriter in a room with ex-members of Elvis
\nCostello’s Attractions, Alex Chilton’s backup band and Sandra
\nBernhard’s backing musicians and something interesting will likely
\nhappen.<\/p>\n
At the center of this unlikely conglomerate is David Clement, an
\nartist who has had the chance to be part of the music scene in both
\nChicago and New York. As the major labels did some major
\nhouse-cleaning because of the then-impending recession, David
\nClement inadvertently got swept up with the clean-up. His album,
\nYour Free Gift<\/i>, released on Show Dog Tunes, is a
\nre-recording of songs that were on his sophomore release.<\/p>\n
The album is worth the purchase just to hear an artist who has a
\ngift for writing both interesting lyrics (some straightforwardness
\nmixed with a little stream-of-consciousness banter for good
\nmeasure) and a band that seems to take joy in the fact that they’re
\nsearching for that irresistible melody or hook. Sometimes they find
\nit, like in the infectious, “ahhh” and “the yard.” Other times, the
\nquirkiness in songs like “geriatriphilia” will take a patient
\nlistener.<\/p>\n
Clement sounds like he is still trying to find his voice. On a
\nsong like “Ms. Davis,” it sounds as if he borrowed heavily from the
\nGin Blossoms. At other times, you can hear influences of Nick Drake
\nand early 70s-era Bob Dylan.<\/p>\n
However, you can begin to hear Clement become more and more
\nassured of his own talents throughout
\nYour Free Gift<\/i>. Even though he had label troubles, Clement
\nhas been able to gain a following through his live shows as well as
\ntelevision. Some of his tunes have appeared on
\nDawson’s Creek<\/i> and
\nGilmore Girls<\/i>.<\/p>\n
“Smells like a metaphor” and “ho me” may be a bit too art-school
\npretentious for their own good, but in an age where college rock is
\nstill searching for an identity, it’s worth giving Clement
\nbreathing room. And while there are enough songs to make “Your Free
\nGift” worth a $12 purchase, the album lacks any major unifying
\nelements to qualify it as a masterpiece that almost slipped through
\nthe cracks of the record industry. Instead of a cohesive album,
\nYour Free Gift<\/i> should be taken more of as a sampler of what
\nClement is capable of as a songwriter and as a musician.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6810],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-37540","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-david-clement","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37540"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}