www.jimclementsandtherighttodie.com

With a touch of Randy Newman’s dark wit, a sprinkling of Nick Cave’s macabre romanticism, and a knack for story-telling that would give The Decemberists a run for their money, Jim Clements will appeal to anyone with a soft-spot for the left-field singer/songwriter. His first album, Kill Devil Hills featured raging angels, world-destroying floods, flowerbed graves, glass ships, grey-clad virgins, volcanoes, murder, self-loathing, redemption, damnation, all in less than an hour (and you could tap your foot to it). He’s admittedly softening as his youth sli... (+) expand

www.jimclementsandtherighttodie.com

With a touch of Randy Newman’s dark wit, a sprinkling of Nick Cave’s macabre romanticism, and a knack for story-telling that would give The Decemberists a run for their money, Jim Clements will appeal to anyone with a soft-spot for the left-field singer/songwriter. His first album, Kill Devil Hills featured raging angels, world-destroying floods, flowerbed graves, glass ships, grey-clad virgins, volcanoes, murder, self-loathing, redemption, damnation, all in less than an hour (and you could tap your foot to it). He’s admittedly softening as his youth slips away; his new album is mostly about saints, but, admittedly, only the creepy ones.

Mr. Clements, since his recent relocation from Toronto, Canada to the UK has put together a new band that goes by the not-as-offensive-as-they’d-hoped moniker of The Right To Die (which, apparently, makes the full band-name an anagram for 'This moth-eaten, meddling reject'). You can maybe hear some of Neil Young's messy prettiness in Jim’s acoustic guitar, and shades of Desire-era Dylan in Maya Ahuja’s ever-present gypsy violin. Tom Wait’s smoky drunkenness haunts Lucy Jordan’s piano, while Jim’s little brother Richard has been promoted from the pots and pans to the drums. Dave Gooblar (also front man of London indie-rock outfit Gooblar) brings his unashamed melodic sense to the bass (i.e. he thinks he’s playing a guitar). Clements’s unique and versatile voice has taken a positive turn after his discovery of the joys of cheap scotch and chain-smoking. The style’s been called Americana, anti-folk, nu-folk, folk-rock, country-rock, acoustica, alt-country, et. al . Who knows? All we can say for sure is that the band is comprised of acoustic instruments, but couldn’t sound less like James Blunt.

Kill Devil Hills was released in Toronto, Canada in the summer of 2004 to glowing reviews, with a CD-release at the legendary El Mocambo, followed by regular gigs with his makeshift band at many of the city’s musical hotspots. Clements also performed a weekly acoustic residency on College Street while all this was going on. In the summer of 2005, Clements took his show across the pond on a UK tour that dragged him and his cohorts from London to Aberdeen, and everywhere in between. He has shared bills with talents such as The Broken Family Band, Nathan Lawr, Boy, Paul James Berry, and Royal City. After a self-imposed writing hiatus, Jim Clements is back with his new band, a new album called When The Saints Go, and a heap of new material about religious visions, silent movie stars, murderers, road trips, deposed saints, and one song sung from the perspective of a fish. (-) collapse