Pitch perfect sibling harmonies and gossamer sounds.
It’s well reckoned that sibling voices are the ultimate in harmony duos, The Everlys being the perfect example. Here to test that presumption is the pair of identical twins who comprise The Clement Brothers and it’s fair to say that they certainly don’t disprove this old saw.
The brothers (George and Charles) hail from New Jersey and ‘Dandelion Breeze’ is their first album under their own name having left behind their previous employment in The Lonely Heartstring Band. Here they weave a gossamer sound, their conjoined voices accompanied by delicate touches of fiddle, pedal steel and keyboards. It’s all very reminiscent of classic laid-back singer-songwriters of past years. Memories of James Taylor in particular come to mind especially on the opening ‘Help Myself’, the runaway tale of ‘Out Of The Blue’ and on the gentle propulsion of ‘Give Me A Sign’ while the following epistolary ‘Hello Daniel’ has Paul Simon’s fingerprints all over it.
There’s a great deal of nimble playing in evidence here as befits their previous exploits in The Lonely Heartstrings Band who played bluegrass with one foot in the rarefied air of classic chamber music. ‘Morning Train’ is perhaps the best example here with its intricate instrumental interludes while the instrumental ‘As The Crow Flies’ has all hands on deck as the band hum and hover with some terrific woody double bass anchoring their flight. There’s a nice surprise as the album draws to a close as the brothers adopt a Kurt Cobain song, ‘All Apologies’ and give it a fine reverential reading which is raised aloft by their superb vocal harmonies.
