With all the hype surrounding the National in recent years, it’s easy to forget about Clogs, the experimental chamber quartet led by National guitarist Bryce Dessner and Padma Newsome. But a lesser notoriety has no relation to Clogs’ capabilities, which are many. Moreover, if you’re tempted to label the band as a side project of the National, don’t: Clogs have existed since the late-’90s, when its members met each other at the Yale School of Music, before going on to release a decade’s worth of accomplished, largely instrumental work. Their latest, The Creatures In The Garden Of Lady Walton (Brassland), finds them infusing their compositions with vocals more than ever before, featuring My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden on six of 10 songs, in addition to appearances from Sufjan Stevens and the National’s Matt Berninger. Stevens, in particular, sounds a calm, haunting tone on “We Were Here,” which is sung alongside Worden to stoic effect. (You can download that song here.) And download album track “On The Edge,” also featuring Worden, below.
“On The Edge” (download):
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/OnTheEdge.mp3
