{"product_id":"tara-clerkin-trio_somewhere-good_2026_dif_1","title":"Somewhere Good","description":"If—in a parallel universe (or perhaps a version close to the one we are already condemned to live in)—the evil excesses of artificial intelligence actually managed to create a convincing and pleasant \"original music,\" more precisely charged with perfectly grasping my personal tastes by analyzing an explosive cocktail of data—I don't know—the posters on my walls, the records in my \"most played\" pile, the mixtapes I made for others, deep physical scans of my auditory cortex, my amygdala, my hippocampus, my heartstrings, in short, everything they dissected on their autopsy table in order to generate an absolute \"perfect band\" from the sum of their discoveries—that band, for me, would be (or at least sound exactly like) the Tara Clerkin Trio. It is, quite simply, without exception, the music I want to listen to.\n\nFormed in Bristol (UK), a city where none of the members are originally from but where they are all deeply rooted, in 2020, the Tara Clerkin Trio—as it exists today, quite democratically despite the authority its name suggests—consists of Tara Clerkin, her partner Sunny Joe Paradisos, and the latter's brother, Patrick Benjamin. I admit I don't know their respective roles within the band and I have little desire to find out. Indeed, what I appreciate most in an objective listening experience is the mystery of who plays which instrument, which sounds are \"authentic\" and which are synthesized, which passages are played \"live\" and which pieces are meticulously reworked measure by measure, or how this overall sound is achieved with such (apparent) ease. However, I suspect that if I ever attend a concert by this band, my pleasure in listening to their music will in no way be diminished by a better understanding of how they operate.\n\nWith two exceptional mini-albums—*In Spring* (2021) and *On The Turning Ground* (2023)—which caused a sensation on the prestigious London label World of Echo after their eponymous debut album in 2020, this new opus, *Somewhere Good*, is in many ways the band's most accomplished work. True to their singular style (a hackneyed adjective for which there is unfortunately no satisfactory alternative), Clerkin and her cohorts explore the boundaries of composition for over 40 festive minutes, without ever wallowing in self-pity, despite intrinsically dark themes such as personal failure, illness, uprooting, unrest, and gentrification. They thus give their arrangements and improvisations all the space and time necessary to unfold, flourish, breathe, enrich each other, and ultimately captivate the listener's imagination, while maintaining a sonic identity more assertive than ever.\n\nOf course, one can detect influences, if one deems such comparisons necessary to fully appreciate this music (which is not the case)... Being the somewhat simple-minded big American that I am, from a boring small town, raised on 90s alternative radio and the exotic, bewitching sounds of *Maxinquaye* and *Mezzanine* broadcast by my old CRT television, I can't help but make a rather obvious reference to the \"Bristol sound,\" that is, all the trip-hop, pastoral melodies against a backdrop of suggestive urban grime from grimy electro\/piano treatments, the string rhythms of the James Bond soundtrack rebuilt digitally but in a primitive way, etc. But the Tara Clerkin Trio is so much more than that. You find elements of avant-pop, contemporary classical music, krautrock, audio verité, and even, dare I say, indie rock (not the kind that involves drinking beer excessively and masturbating with saturated effects, but rather in the style of a Faust led by Trish Keenan, of Adrian Sherwood at the helm of *If You're Feeling Sinister*, or—pushing our exploration of this alternative reality—a world where High Llamas recorded an album at Warp Records with Andrew Weatherall at the controls).\n\nThe hazy and indefinable horizon, like a mirage, composed of throbbing harmonium, double bass, wind instruments with singular timbres, acoustic guitar, and muted yet undeniably powerful keyboards, unites for a hypnotic effect. The band certainly winks at jazz, but it is not appropriation, quite the opposite: they possess the talent necessary to fully develop this style. Beneath the wobbly samples and eccentric percussive ornaments lies drumming of high quality. Beyond the manipulated vocal enchantments and moments of melancholic simplicity, Tara's subtly inspired melodies unfold, sung with a voice that seems to be the glue of this off-kilter equation. A soothing constancy permeates this otherwise unpredictably dynamic, boldly intuitive, and quintessentially British exploration of their own universe.","brand":"Tara Clerkin Trio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57482064462168,"sku":null,"price":20260605.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/vinyles.com\/en\/products\/tara-clerkin-trio_somewhere-good_2026_dif_1","provider":"Vinyles.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}