From listening to ‘Lifenotes,’ the new record from British composer Clem Leek, one can intercept many of its qualities. The album is full bodied in its approach, in that it shows the musician in his most wide-ranging form to date. However it also houses a minimalist style that feels like new territory for an artist previously associated with scores of grander scope. Yet given the name of the record, and the fragmented, miniature compositions at hand, one senses an album that provides a snapshot into the artist’s life and the influences that have shaped his approach to sound creation.

Across this 16 track album, there seems to be three styles of recording at hand. These can in fact be drawn from the opening three songs. Starting with ‘Page 1,’ a familiar veil of ambient glitches and electronic noises are fused with gentle piano and violins. The second track ‘Past the Pasture and Beyond the Hill’ focuses more on stringed instruments with a slow diving electric guitar gracing the score and working in close tandem with soothing violins. The result is a pleasant molding of dreamy yet uplifting melodies. On track three the final aesthetic style of the album is established; that of the solo piano. Here listeners are treated to the minute, yet richly emotive playing that has become a prominent fixture within the experimental music scene. It is by no means a co-incidence that the artist cites fellow pianist Keith Kenniff as an influence on his music with the solo piano compositions holding a Goldmund-esque feel to them.

These styles are then referenced throughout the album, but not in a repeated order. Listeners will be sure to enjoy the ambient and field-recording infused songs like ‘The Middle Part’ and ‘November 11th’ while ‘The Diary I Kept’ holds shades of Max Richter in its take on piano scoring. Likewise, the graceful guitar play on ‘You’re So Very Far Away’ is certain to touch the emotions of listeners.

‘Lifenotes’ embodies many of the qualities that we love from a musical movement that is hard to classify as one particular style. A collection of songs that appear both personal and styled by many different influences, it is clear Clem Leek is a musician who is an avid listener as well as partaker within this musical foundation.

- Josh Atkin for Fluid Radio

www.driftingfalling.com
www.myspace.com/clemleekofficial

Gizeh Records…Clem Leek…Limited Edition Tapes: The perfect combination I hear you say. Well that was exactly our thoughts when we heard what the label have planned. The first in the new tape series will be coming via Clem Leek and the label are giving you guys the chance to get involved by submitting your creative talents for the packaging artwork. Full info below…

……………………..

“In the coming weeks Gizeh Records will be launching a new cassette tape series. Produced in limited edition runs of 32 copies, each tape will be hand numbered and elaborately packaged, also including a free digital download code inside the case. The first tape in the series features Clem Leek and a re-issue of ‘Snow Tales’ on side A. Side B will feature a collection of live recordings entitled ‘Home Again’.

The tape series will initially be offered exclusively to Gizeh Subscriber Deluxe members (sign-up here: http://www.gizehrecords.com/-subscribe.html) with any remaining copies going into the new Gizeh Store (http://www.gizehstore.com)

We are looking to the listeners and readers of Fluid Radio to provide us with some sketches and drawings which will feature in the artwork for the cassette. Not a competition as such but more a contribution to a new project. Clem and I will gather the submissions and put together further ideas for the artwork and packaging.

Please send you ideas and contributions to rich@gizehrecords.com

Regards, Rich // Gizeh Records

In a short space of time Clem Leek has carved a reputation for himself as a composer of rich, panoramic drones and soundscapes, a reputation bolstered by last year’s excellent album “Holly Lane” for Hibernate. However, those familiar with his recent work may as yet be unaware that the English musician is also a very fine piano player. The seven tracks of “Home Again: Live Sessions” sees the artist eschew completely the dense electronics and guitar work of previous releases in order to focus all his attention on this instrument. Recorded as a series of live sessions in a church in his native Kent, “Home Again” makes it clear that in front of the piano is indeed where Leek feels most at home.

There is nothing particularly experimental or boundary-pushing about this music. Instead, what impresses is Leek’s ear for a good tune, the sensitivity of his playing, and well-crafted, imaginative arrangements. There is a childlike simplicity and sense of wonder to tracks such as opener “Un” and “Snow Tale #1”, contrasting with more driving and rhythmically complex pieces such as the Nymanesque “Trois/London Bridge, Wednesday, 5.30PM”. In delicate, gently-flowing closing track “Breaking Down” a mastery of tempo, timbre and dynamics is put to magical, moving effect.

To me, the sound of a solo piano played with such devotion is inevitably timeless, as though it could have floated in though the door of a reverie. In this sense the pieces become old photographs of times gone by, and the homecoming of the album title is an experience of remembrance rather than actual return. One wonders if these recordings are an interesting side project for Leek, or whether their penchant for melody and clarity will find its way into future releases. Either way, “Home Again” is a clear and rewarding demonstration of an aspect of his talent that could easily have gone unnoticed.

- Nathan Thomas for Fluid Radio
- Photo: Dan Crossley

www.myspace.com/clemleekofficial

The Clem Leek – Holly Lane special edition came in a fabric cover, with a limited edition 3″ cdr and only 50 of these were made selling out in just a few hours. One copy was saved and is being offered here on on Fluid as a special prize…

For your chance to win it we are looking for you to send in a photo that you have taken which can be used for a future release on either Hibernate Recordings or Rural Colours.  Please send a high resolution image here jonathan@hibernate-recs.co.uk – Jonathan

Closing date: 19/11/10

Full review of Holly Lane can be read here

www.hibernate-recs.co.uk

Big Brother seem to have been doing their best to hinder the impressive list of artists that Hibernate Recordings have been showcasing at The Birchcliffe Centre of late. The good news is that Jonathan has some how managed to cut through all the red tape which will see a sublime line up this coming Friday including Library Tapes, Clem Leek, Gareth Davis and the Kleefstra brothers…

Friday October 22nd 2010 @ The Birchcliffe Centre, Birchcliffe Road, Hebden Bridge, HX78DG
8.00pm, Free entry but donation required (£5 suggested)

Library Tapes:

Beautiful, subtle and affecting, Library Tapes’ music sits somewhere special between classical, ambient and experimental.

Surely a highlight of the year, ‘Like Green Grass Against A Blue Sky’ is an unmissable treat for fans of modern classical music and another example of David Wennegren’s precocious talent. Full review

Clem Leek:

Awash with mysterious drone passages, echoes of ghostly instruments, glimpses of forgotten radio broadcasts.

Clem has created one of the finest ambient/classical albums I’ve heard in a very long time. This stands out against all others, not least because of its sheer beauty, but because of its production, pace and depth. Loosing yourself in this album will be easy. It’s a journey through wonderful lost country side, old houses and forgotten landmarks. It’s like saying goodbye to an old friend. It’s looking at old photos to remember your loved ones. Music like this doesn’t come along often, so packed with emotion without being obvious and cheesy, but Clem has nailed it here. If you’re not hooked on this album after the first listen, you may want to give up everything. This is it. Full review

Davis/Kleefstra/Kleefstra:

Brothers Jan & Romke are joined by British artist Gareth Davis to make some ominous dynamic soundscapes using guitar, clarinet and spoken word.

Subsequently, the brothers stumbled upon the music of Gareth Davis and got very interested in his work. This led to another swift correspondence and both parties became very interested in a collaboration. Romke was exceptionally interested in Davis’ use of bass clarinet and more particularly the way that it would compliment the guitar. Gone are the ambient soundscapes of their previous ventures; here the listener is presented with a sparse and often choppy bed of instrumentation and voice. I suspect this is largely due to the influence that Davis brought from his previous work in the dark and gloomy improvised Jazz scene. Overall their work together has a ferociously different feel from before. Jan’s poetry and his voice appears to be more anxious, or unnerving than usual and perhaps this is due, or even a cause, of the sparse, almost threatening sound that the instrumentation provides. The trio have a couple of releases due on Home Normal and Digitalis at an as-of-yet unspecified date for both. Full review

www.hibernate-recs.co.uk
www.myspace.com/librarytapes
www.myspace.com/janromke
www.myspace.com/clemleekofficial
www.myspace.com/davisgareth

Album Of The Week: : From the opening clock chime to the closing string cadence, “Holly Lane” is soaked in atmosphere and emotion; be it despair, fear, love or confusion, it’s all here on this album. Clem Leek is not a household name, nor a name that will be familiar to everyone. This is the album that will change all that…

Clem Leek is a young musician from the South East, UK who first came to the attention of the ambient/classical scene when he released his first EP “Through the Annular” on his own label Schedios records. It featured beautiful minimal piano playing set to the sound of vinyl crackle. It was simple but stunning. Since then, Clem has released a free digital EP entitled “Snow Tales” on the Experimedia label and has collaborated with Jannick Schou on the track “Pimlico” released by my own Dead Pilot label. “Holly Lane” is his first full length and comes courtesy of the Hibernate label.

Where as on previous outings Clems melodic focus has mainly been the piano, which he played gracefully and thoughtfully; this album shows him focusing much more on strings, drones, textures and field recordings, marking a much fuller and wider sound for him. I believe this was a natural progression for Clem, or at least it seems so from listening to the album. His work has always been more about the atmosphere created from simplicity and minimalism, rather than trying to build upon small ideas and add to them. So although this album could be seen as being totally different to anything he has done before, it still sounds like it was made by him. His trade mark sound still shines through with long sustained notes resonating with emotion, albeit in a manner totally different to ever before.

Opening track “Mystery Moor” is a spine tingling affair. A clock ticks away alongside violin notes creating a deep sense of foreboding. The subtle chord changes hit hard in this piece and the rhythmic electronics in the back ground add more tension and depth as the piece plays out. As far as opening tracks go, this is perfection. Not only does it strike your attention, it also grabs you emotionally setting you up for the entire rest of the album.

Title track “Holly Lane” is another stunner. Expertly crafted and played out, this piece is one of the dronier tracks of the album with its swells and waves of luscious ambience. Stars of the Lid spring to mind here, as does Brian Eno. The melodic development of this track is stunning and it leaves me lost for words. The next track entitled “Mistletoe Lane” is another of the more drone based pieces and again it’s exquisite; with an atmosphere occupying that of feelings of hope and amazement and discovery.

Album closer “The Burnt Home” is without a doubt the best track of the album. That’s not to say that there are bad tracks on this album, because there certainly is not, but “The Burnt Home” merges the more classical sound from Clem previous outings with the new dronier sound so brilliantly and graciously that it’s hard not to single it out as an outstanding piece of work on its own. A sense of mystery and sadness is created by a beautiful string riff that plays out through most of the piece. As the last notes play and fade out, you’re left heart broken.

Throughout the album Clem creates textures that are so sublime and warming, they almost reach ethereal territory. It’s a wonder Clem is only just exploring these areas in his work. With this development in his sound so early on in his career, it’s exciting to imagine where he might go next.

Clem has created one of the finest ambient/classical albums I’ve heard in a very long time. This stands out against all others, not least because of its sheer beauty, but because of its production, pace and depth. Loosing yourself in this album will be easy. It’s a journey through wonderful lost country side, old houses and forgotten landmarks. It’s like saying goodbye to an old friend. It’s looking at old photos to remember your loved ones. Music like this doesn’t come along often, so packed with emotion without being obvious and cheesy, but Clem has nailed it here. If you’re not hooked on this album after the first listen, you may want to give up everything. This is it. – Review by Daniel J. Gregory for Fluid Radio

Available through Hibernate

www.myspace.com/clemleekofficial
www.hibernate-recs.co.uk

With only a handful of releases between them, Clem Leek and Jannick Schou have established themselves as rising stars among modern classical composers, and it’s only a matter of time before they become household names and occupy a place of pre-eminence in this humble genre…

Under his own name, as well as through his Cylon moniker, Jannick Schou’s drifting ambience has become a standard of excellence in an over-crowded ambient/drone genre. His release on Under The Spire, “Night”, was a wonderful example of exquisite drone pieces, marrying tape delay and processed guitar to produce four pieces that can soundtrack any nocturnal introspection.

Clem Leek, who will release his much-awaited full-length debut on Hibernate Recordings soon, has, with “Through The Annular” (Scheidos) and “Snow Tales” (Experimedia), produced moving compositions that connect idyllic ambient sounds with assorted field recordings and radio samples.

“Pimlico”, named for, I believe, the small, exquisite area located in London, is a long piece that brings together the unique aesthetic of both artists to create a startling excursion, cinematic in feel, subdued in tone, enveloping in nature, and wonderful all-around. Field recordings, highlighted by chirps of birds, rustling of branches, intermixed with a delicate drone, begin the proceedings, slowly immersing the listener into calm water, with no undertow. Submerging the listener even further, the serenity is heightened by layered drones and shifting soundscapes that alter and augment the piece towards a stunning conclusion.

Sadly, this 3” cdr, which comes beautifully packaged in a small box with stickered artwork and vellum obi strip, was only issued in an edition of 60 and is now sold out at the Dead Pilots website. But, I have it on good authority that Experimedia will be getting a few copies in soon so make sure to keep checking their website. If you don’t manage to secure a copy, fear not, it is available for streaming via soundcloud at the Dead Pilots website. – Review by Michael Vitrano for Fluid Radio

www.deadpilotrecords.co.uk
www.myspace.com/clemleekofficial
www.myspace.com/schoudk

Clem Leek & Antonymes - A Recursive Process by Fluid Radio on Mixcloud

Clem and Ian are two artists we have been keen to support over the last year and we are delighted to share with you ‘A Recursive Process’, a modern music selection that the pair have been working on over the last month or so exclusively for Fluid Radio…

Track List:

01: David Wenngren: Another Spring [a]
02: Mico Nonet: Hammock [CL]
03: Danny Norbury: Aspen Trees [a]
04: Marc Codsi: A White Rabbit In A Hole [CL]
05: In The Country: Where Can We Go? [a]
06: Nils Frahm: Over There, It’s Raining [CL]
07: Sylvain Chauveau: Minéral [a]
08: Saito Koji: Candle [CL]
09: Porzellan: Rosen [CL]
10: This Mortal Coil: Ivy And Neet [a]
11: Jónsi & Alex: Boy 1904 [a]
12: Anna Rose Carter: Red Room [CL]
13: Marcus Fischer: Arctic 3 [a]
14: Ian Hawgood: Parasol [CL]
15: Ten: Suspended In The Sky [a]
16: Dakota Suite: Adam [CL]
17: Antonymes: Wave Upon Wave [a]
18: Gareth Hardwick: Aversions [CL]
19: Nest: Marefjellet [a]
20: Max Richter: A Song [CL]

www.myspace.com/clemleekofficial
www.antonymes.co.uk

A few months back I put together a mix for the station entitled Off Key. Over time we received many emails from listeners asking if a second edition could be created and so I set aside some time today to do just that…

“From my tattered walls, an infinite reflection corrupts me. The light striking my eye congeals into an opaque silence and, irremediably, I listen. All the words are falling, enveloped by the astral noise of your eyes. In the inclination of your gaze, I see a white hole coming back at me: an interstice of light, a sound tattered by the tongues of the wind”

Track List:

Antonymes – Endlessly
The Colossal Ithaca Trio & The Deus Ex Machina Arkestra – My Mind To Your Mind
Hummingbird – Uncertainty in Copenhagen
Sophie Hutchings – Sunlight Zone
Christoph Berg – Poems Written By An Old (prepared) Piano
Ólafur Arnalds – Kjurrt
Gary Jules/Michael Andrews – Mad World
Machinefabriek and Peter Broderick  -  Extract from In Session
Anna Rose Carter – My Piano Is Broken
Peter Broderick – Intake Part 2
Max Richter – Journey 5
Max Richter – Journey 3
Louisville – Forest
Adam Williams and Leonardo Rosado – What Has Gone is Lost Forever
Fieldhead – Planks of Wood
Hummingbird – Uncertainty in Copenhagen (Unreleased Edit)
Hessien – A Letter from Engels (Japser TX Remix)
Foxes in Fiction – Basement Window
Male – House of Ride
Field Rotation – Never Build A Bridge Into Nothingness
Evan Caminiti – Westward Sun
Damian Valles – Ground Truth
Clem Leek – The Burnt Home
Nest – Trans Siberian
Mains de Givre – Un Choeur Dames en Detresse
Scott Tuma & Mike Weis – Rubadub
Noveller – Fades
Aaron Martin – Kept Ashes
Field Rotation – Acoustic Tale 4

Clem has composed a stunning soundscape to accompany a selection of bespoke photographic pieces…

‘Home Outside is a piece conceived from these 20 pictures and the emotion for my natural surroundings. The piece is an exploration of sound and textures….

I have tried to imply themes and ideas musically, but under a haze of a soundscape. Using only acoustic instruments including violin, guitar and also some field recordings I have endeavored to build up a murky, textually dense musical environment in which motifs and passages appear and disappear within the world of sound. With beautiful lines of flute from Isnaj Dui I have tried to weave a rich tapestry of sound. The piece is very much for a listener to interoperate and musically pick out lines and phrases to explore and creatively elaborate on. Most of all I hope you enjoy it and the concept behind it.

With thanks to Katie, Heidi and Neil.

This work is dedicated to Friends, Family & Supporters’ – Clem

Clem Leek is a musician & composer from the South East of England. He also owns Schedios Records.
© 2010 We Sink Ships and individual contributors.
All rights reserved

To view the complete photo set visit here

www.wesinkships.co.uk
www.myspace.com/clemleekofficial