Lady Clementine’s Fantastic Party is a technicolor pop band from Atlanta fronted by multimedia artist Adelaide Tai. Their sound veers between 60’s bombast and Tracy Chapman-level verve. The debut EP will be welcome to the ears of anyone who grew up mooning over The B-52s, Suzanne Vega, or Tunnel of Love-era Springsteen. The band’s debut EP Clementine Season came out August 1st.
On Clementine Season, Tai sings about love, road trips, and the push and pull between independence and codependence. Long time fans of Adelaide Tai may remember her earlier gossamer acoustic recordings like “Blue Eyes” — LCFP takes Tai’s knack for heart-wrenching narrative and injects it with some psychedelic tinge.
The EP opens with “Your Hand in Mine” — it’s an 80’s Berlin-style ballad with Tai asking “where do you reach when you can’t find the mask / when you can’t find the medicine for the pain in your chest?”
It’s an unusual way to begin an album —and its ambiguity colors the thematic register of the EP. Similarly the EP ends with “Heart Aflame”, a Pretenders barnburner with Tai’s voice channeling a feeling between swagger and regret – ‘Heart aflame / you’ll say that I was just a passing phase / a pretty face that came along your way”.
The title track “Clementine Season” begins with Tai repeating “let me prove myself worthy of your love” on top of a placid soundscape of synthesizer pads. Then it dog ears suddenly with the introduction of the band.
The chorus relies on the pairing of Tai’s vocal and stammered chords. The effect suggests the push and pull of ambiguity present throughout the EP. She sings “Clementine season / I’ll give you a reason / to love”. And on that word — “love” —the chorus whips up a musical chaos of piano stabs, keyboard windups, and a persistent drum beat. There’s a palpable tension between the vocal’s composure and the music’s tonal madness. “Clementine Season” rises out of nothing before descending into beautiful and unstoppable chaos.
Clementine Season ends like all summer flings do; too soon. But Tai’s musical bona fides turn a dead end relationship it into a cinematic-level denouement. At the end the EP is a culmination of a lot of backroads, coffee shops and hard won insight about the nature of love. No, Tai may not have been able to prove herself worthy of her partner’s love as she opines in the title track; but it’s not for Tai’s lack of charm or thoughtful lyrics. ~ Written by Ethan Fogus
LADY CLEMENTINE’S FANTASTIC PARTY ONLINE:
WEBSITE // FACEBOOK // INSTAGRAM
UPCOMING LADY CLEMENTINE’S FANTASTIC PARTY TOUR DATES:
Show announcements coming soon. You can LCFP tonight (9/25/19) at Vinyl for the Kollaboration Atlanta’s 9th Annual Showcase: Love For ATL
Listen to Lady Clementine’s Fantastic Tea Party’s “Clementine Season” on our Spotify playlist: Georgia Indie 2019
