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Somewhere between the highest point of indie music in the
early 90s and the utter despair of pop music in the early
21st century, country music became cool again. If images of
Garth Brooks, banded collars and headset microphones
come to mind, you haven’t been following the progress
of bands like Old 97’s, Supersuckers, the
Waco Brothers, Whiskeytown or Wilco. The
fusion of indie pop and country isn’t as dramatic as
the fusion between rock and country. Country shares many a
trait with indie pop: 4 chord songs, simple lyrics about driving
and heartache, emoting while remaining strong. These similarities
couldn’t be more apparent than with Clem Snide’s
The Ghost of Fashion.
"Let’s Explode" opens The Ghost… with
a nice twangy feel. The pitfall that some bands of this genre
fall into is that they over indulge in traditional clichés.
Clem Snide walks the line where this is concerned. As "Let’s
Explode" builds, you can almost hear them fighting to
avoid a fiddle solo. Thankfully, said solo never happens and
it becomes apparent that Clem Snide isn’t about filling
out the indie – country mold, and at the same time they
aren’t about playing understated music. The sound is
easily pigeonholed yet, Clem Snide define themselves as their
own band within this category.
It isn’t until the second cut, "Long Lost Twin"
that you hear what separates them from other bands. I haven’t
heard a band use Louisiana brass band sounds in any other
band of this ilk. As easily as they could play a honky tonk
bar or a hole in the wall punk club, it wouldn’t be a
stretch for Clem Snide to march in front of a funeral, banging
cymbals and blowing into a tuba. Herein lies their individuality.
While playing on the one trick pony of indie-country, they
combine different genres that allow them to remain on the
same track while sounding unique.
The Ghost… does find them deviate a bit on songs
like "Moment in the Sun" and "The Junky Jews",
which are more straight indie rock, without any guise. It
would be easy to say that this offered a nice change that
demonstrates Snide’s dichotomy, but in reality, these
songs parallel the rest of the album. The switch in genres
is almost transparent and done with a subtle grace.
While the lyrics can be campy and the word plays get old
("Joan Jett of Arc", "Ancient Chinese Secret
Blues"), The Ghost of Fashion is a solid album
and any listener would be hard pressed to find it’s equal
in this niche. This album has everything from country-esque
ditties to indie pop romps to laid back jams, all being completely
cohesive instead of schizophrenic and aimless.
-Tyler Jacobson
Track Listing:
01. Let’s Explode
02. Long Lost Twin
03. Ice Cube
04. Chinese Baby
05. Don’t Be Afraid of Your Anger
06. Evil vs. Good
07. Moment In The Sun
08. The Curse of Great Beauty
09. Joan Jett of Arc
10. The Junky Jews
11. Ancient Chinese Secret Blues
12. The Ballad of Unzer Charlie
13. No One’s More Happy Than You
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