aaamusic | On 16, May 2011

Alex Clare will release his debut album ‘The Lateness of the Hour‘ on the 11th of July, but before we get into those details, Alex has covered Prince‘s ‘When Doves Cry‘ with producers The Shinning.

You can watch the video here:

Live dates:

May

12 – Great Escape, Brighton

17 – XOYO, London (w/ Oh Land)

July

04 – Deaf Institute, Manchester

05 – Bodega, Nottingham

06 – Jericho, Oxford

07 – Green Door Store, Brighton

11 – Cluny, Newcastle

12 – King Tuts, Glasgow

13 – Nation of Shopkeepers, Leeds

The Lateness of the Hour

New Island Records signing Alex Clare, whose Diplo & Switch produced tracks  “Up All Night” and “Too Close”  have generated a genuine buzz across radio, press and the blogosphere, has his eagerly awaited debut album ”The Lateness Of The Hour” released on July 11th. Diplo & Switch, who are very particular about who they work with,  are on fire at the moment, with Switch producing 7 tracks on the new Beyonce album while Diplo has produced the next Chris Brown single feat. Busta Rhymes and Lil Wayne, which is shaping up to be a monster. In addition Beyonce has sampled Major Lazer “Pon The Floor” for her comeback single.

“The Lateness Of The Hour” was recorded in New Orleans, Jamaica, Los Angeles and London and was produced in the main by Diplo & Switch, with Eg White (Adele) adding a couple of tunes. Featured tracks on the 11 song set which introduce Clare as an exciting new talent very difficult to pin down,  include “Relax My Beloved”, Hummingbird”, “Whispering”, “Hands Are Clever” and new single “Treading Water”.

Alex, a 25 year old Golders Green native, recently previewed tracks from the album during a couple of incendiary live shows and will be putting in more live shows in the coming months.

Clare writes and sings his own songs but is not a singer songwriter, not in the traditional sense anyway. After playing in a succession of London bands and following a brief career as a chef, too many long hours and too many sliced fingers, Alex decided to go it alone and started writing songs and demoing them himself. Things happened very quickly from there. The demos found their way to Island Records and two weeks later a deal was on the table. The opportunity to work with much sought after producers – Diplo and Switch, of Major Lazer fame arose and it seemed such a perfect fit. The three of them headed off to New Orleans, Jamaica and LA, where they recorded the bulk of the album, an album which incorporates soul and jazz, funk and jungle, punk rock and dubstep and looks set to be one of the most exciting releases of 2011.

Speaking of the collaboration Clare says “They understand what I want from the arrangements. I love those heavy, sine-wave bass lines and they knew how to push them way beyond even my expectations.” Alex says the duo made him think about his songs in a totally new way, in came polyrhythms and synth sounds that just wouldn’t have happened otherwise. “I tend to be a bit more reserved when I write,” he laughs. “They put it all out there – and it works.”

Listen for yourself and see if he’s right.