Clogs
The Creatures In The Garden Of Lady Walton
Release Date: Mar 2, 2010
Genre(s): Rock, Alternative, Experimental, Classical
Record label: Brassland
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Album Review: The Creatures In The Garden Of Lady Walton by Clogs
Very Good, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating 7.1/10
When Clogs released the Veil Waltz EP in late January-- one new song, with some incidental music and a few unreleased odds and ends-- you'd be forgiven for thinking the post-rock band's forthcoming LP would again be a mostly instrumental mix of modern classical, rock, and jazz. But like their new approach to cover art-- once muted and minimal; here a spectrum of vivid color-- the National's Bryce Dessner and co. have crafted a new version of Clogs that revels in pushing boundaries and redefining their sound.
Based on rating 7/10
The Clogs fifth full-length release builds on the avant-garde chamber ensemble’s foundation of kaleidoscopic, indie-classical instrumentals by adding equally unpredictable lyrics and vocals. Multi-instrumentalist Padma Newsome, who composed all of the songs during a 2005 residency at Italy’s botanical island paradise, Giardini La Mortella, has crafted a typically labyrinthine and cinematic collection of disparate melodies that draw inspiration from wells all over the world. The quartet is aided in this venture by a trio of guest vocalists including Sufjan Stevens and Matt Berninger (The National), but more specifically, opera singer-turned indie rocker Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), who appears on six of the ten songs that make up Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton.
Based on rating 7/10
If one wants to understand the difference between merely writing a song and composing a song, listen to 99.9% of contemporary music, and then turn on Clogs. Composed by Padma Newsome during a residency in 2005, The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton features some stirring compositions that walk the line between classical and something else entirely. .
Based on rating 3/5
The beguiling fifth effort from Brooklyn/Sydney indie classical quartet Clogs is a study in refinement. Composed by member Padma Newsome during a residency at Italy's Giardini La Mortella, the folkie, melodic song cycle is fuelled by gentle acoustic guitar, bassoon, percussion and Newsome's viola. [rssbreak] It won't be everyone's cup of tea. My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden sings on over half of the tracks, and her operatic voice is at times jarringly high.
Opinion: Excellent
Embraces the listener with a silken touch, seducing them with beguiling beauty. Mike Diver 2010 Padma Newsome’s Clogs – the group he co-founded with fellow member of The National, Bryce Dessner, back in the late 1990s – have long defied easy pigeonholing, delivering four albums of ambitious chamber-music-meets-jazz, via post-rock instrumentals between 2001 and 2006. This, their fifth long-play set, arrives after a four-year break in releases – and, more pertinently, represents the ensemble’s first foray into material with vocals.
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