We’ve been digging the new album Arrow from Clare and the Reasons here in the office so when I found out they were playing at the Music Hall of Williamsburg last night, I dragged my dreamy-chamber-pop-loving ass out in the rain to see them. Let me tell you, it was worth the wet socks.
Clare’s delicate voice is crazy gorgeous and hearing it live just drives that point home. And as if her sweet and soaring singing wasn’t talent enough, homegirl played electric guitar, acoustic guitar, washboard, kazoo (no shit!), whistled like a pro, hit a tambourine with her foot, and even plucked the strings on a ukulele (which she admitted to finding in the trash) during the set. Rad. Backed by the Reasons, three dudes (one of them being her cute Frenchie hubby Olivier) who tackled everything from the violin to the tuba depending on the tune, she played a ton of tracks off of Arrow (‘You Got Time’ is one of my faves) and won me over with her old-school chanteuse-like charm. The crowd was small and sat mostly on the floor, which was fine considering the mellow pop Clare and the Reasons play (not to mention how easy it makes it for shorties like me to actually see). When they launched into crowd-pleaser ‘That’s All,’ a cover of the 1983 Genesis classic, it was Phil Collins-flavored icing on the chamber-pop cake.
