CLING

ANY ARTIST whose music appeals to clubbers, yoga fanatics and fans of Elaine Paige must be allowed to claim they have broad appeal.

Ilford-based chill-out duo Cling have built up such a following through their Myspace website that they are attracting interest from all quarters.

Gerald Patient and partner Susi Lavender have been making ambient dance music in the spare room of their Clarendon Gardens home since 2004.

All tracks are recorded onto the computer with Gerald working out the compositions and Susi singing the vocals.

They discovered Myspace.com in December 2005 and realised that they could build up a huge following without the backing of a record label.

Gerald said: "I think our music will always have an underground edge to it. But the beauty of our music is that it does appeal to a very broad range of people.

People into yoga and meditation, people into the after club chill out stuff, we even ended up with some Elaine Page fans.

"So we've got a good chance of becoming commercially successful but the problem faced by all unsigned bands is that we don't have the money to do lots of advertising of our music. That is where a record company would come in useful."

Cling have built up nearly 20,000 friends on Myspace and attracted plaudits from Mixmaster Morris - a legendary figure on the chill-out scene.

Their music has been used on the cult internet TV series The Scene, no small shakes when you consider that it boasts 250,000 hits a month.

Now they are planning to break out of the bedroom and take their music into the live arena. A slot at the Ambient Picnic Festival in Epsom, Surrey, awaits on July 8.

They then hope to gradually build up a full band and play regular live dates in the future. "It's nice to take it out into the real world," said Gerald.

But how do you describe the sound of Cling. "One person that did a review described us as being deceptively light but having real depth and texture. That's a pretty good description of our stuff.

"One comment we get more than anything is that we are unique. That's hard when everything has been done but it's something we always try and do."

For more information on Cling, and their new EP Yours, visit www.myspace.com/sonicspells.
- http://www.london24.com

Ahhh, this refreshing music! Cling from Great Britain. With their newest release called “Groovyshoes” they prove that laid-back sounds aren’t just made to use it as background music.
Cling made the impossible possible by using kind of ambient rhythms merged with a fat rich, near to cinematic sound. With the wonderful voice of Susi Lavender this music becomes its “special” sound. I don’t like comparisons but Cling are somewhere between Lamb and Jazzanova, but they own a very unique musical identity. Their sound is so relaxed on one side, but on the other this is music that disperses a refreshing and enthusiastic feeling. Music that’s good to dance and listen too. Balsam for the soul without getting lost in weak sounds. Wonderful how they create music with identity and message that will make your day.
A great EP that makes the listener hungry for the next album….
Wonderful one! - Cuemix Magazine

A MUSIC duo is celebrating after netting over 300 downloads which have generated them over $250 in less than a week through an online music website.

Vocalist and lyricist Susi Lavender and music programmer and producer Gerald Patient have been writing and producing songs together as Cling' for over three years.

Gerald, 50, said: "I was born in Epping and involved in the music industry for many years. Susi was born in Africa (Zimbabwe) and is still influenced by the nature and culture in which she grew up.

"She has been in the UK for 15 years. We've been together as a couple for five years and as Cling for three years."

The couple, of Tower Road, Epping, met when Susi was looking for a music producer and vocal coach and Gerald was looking for someone who could sing and write lyrics with an edge, with someone who was on the right wavelength'.

They soon realised they had much more in common than just music and although they briefly lost contact, they met again through a mutual acquaintance and have been clinging together ever since', which is what inspired the name of their duo band.

Gerald said: "We first came across Tunesquare.com, a new ad-supported music download site somewhere in between the world of illegal P2P sites and paid-for download services such as iTunes and Rhapsody, on Boxing Day and decided to upload our début CD, Sonic Spells, onto it to see how it would go."

Susi, 30, said: "A couple of years ago we started putting our music online and soon discovered MySpace where we now have over 20,000 friends and the most wonderful comments from all over the world.

"We even had one from world famous chillout DJ Mixmaster Morris. He found a copy our CD, Sonic Spells, in the Big Chill Bar in London. We still don't know how it got there and he took it home and played it and left us a comment saying he liked it and it was good work.

"We still find it amazing we can earn just as much if not more money by giving our music away in this way, and it's very easy for music fans to get the music they want with no registration and then be able to burn them to a CD or be played on an MP3 player." - http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/leisure/music/artists/display.var.2029527.0.couple_who_cling_togeth

I have followed this synthduo from the first promo single "Abandoned" (where Susi sounds a bit like Julee Cruise who sang the Twin Peaks theme "Falling) with the Jean Michel Jarre sounding b-side "Luna_C" and must say that I?m pleased to inform the melodic.net readers that they now included all their songs on a 5 track EP called "Sonic spells".
"Slipping away" is featured in 2 versions,I prefer the original version before the remixed one but I guess that?s just as a matter of opinion since others might like the (of the Darkness remix) more.
I said it before and I?ll say it again,the music of Cling is very soothing,imagine Tangerine Dream with radio potential.
I still think the ghost-like "The other side" is Susi Lavender and Gerald Patient?s best song so far,I suggest you purchase this EP and play it real loud with your headphones on to get out maximal effect! - http://melodic.net/reviewsOne.asp?revnr=4628

It seems like almost daily we get request from bands asking us to visit their website and check them out. A majority of these bands are horrible, a few are decent, and every once in a long while one will be so talented and brilliant that it just blows me away.

It only took me a few seconds of listing to Cling's music to know that I had to interview this band and learn more about them. What I first found out was that the band consists of only two members. Gerald Patient is the composer/programmer and producer while Susi Lavender writes the lyrics and provides the vocals. The most amazing thing I also discovered is that the music that I have heard was from their yet to be self-released debut CD, "Sonic Spells." (See Review).

Right then I decided that I needed to know more about this phenomenal band that just appeared out of nowhere and whose music made me an instant fan. So, how better to learn about someone than go right to the source. So here it is for you to enjoy, my interview with Gerald Patient and Susi Lavender of Cling.

CF - Where did the name "Cling" come from?

Susi - Cling came about because we have always been inseparable since the day we got together. We first met many years ago when Gerald had a small studio and I needed a vocal coach to help record some songs. We met up again purely by coincidence, through a mutual acquaintance and things progressed from there.

CF - When did you first realize that you wanted to be musicians?

Susi - Winning a talent contest at 17 was a turning point, I started to realize that I could turn a dream into reality. I started off as a dancer, growing up in Africa meant there weren't many opportunities for aspiring singers. I was only about 20 when I left home and came to the UK. It was only when I moved to the UK and met up with Gerald that I started to hone my singing talent, it was Gerald who taught me everything I know about singing. Dancing helped me understand the way that music works, with counting and timing, I also like to feel the movement in what I'm singing, so the two are closely integrated.

My family always encouraged my creativity and talent. My father banned TV from our house and we were forced to make our own entertainment, he loved music and we were always surrounded by it. My mother recognized it in me when I was very small. I was always quite psychic and she would ask me questions about the future.

Gerald - It wasn't so much a conscious realization more like something that just happened, naturally. From about age 16 I started writing songs and from there on I have always been involved in music.

I started writing songs through a desire to express myself in a way that was not possible in normal reality. I started singing and playing the guitar but after a while I found I could only express so much through singing, and the guitar used to bore me because it always sounded like a guitar and neither the voice or guitar were getting me anywhere near close to producing what was inside my head.

It wasn't until I discovered the Atari computer and Cubase about 15 years ago and then started to use a sampler and electronic keyboards that I was able to get a bit closer to what I wanted to put across.

Many years later when I heard Susi`s voice and lyrics I felt it was the missing link as I wanted to try and create a style where when you heard a track you knew who the artist was a few seconds into it, just like when you heard Hendrix and all of the other distinctive artists over the years you knew who it was after just a few notes, I wanted it to be distinctive and original.

CF - How has your exposure to the cultures of Africa and the UK influenced your songwriting?

Susi - I have always been inspired by the nature and beauty of Africa and it still influences my songwriting, although I also draw on my experience of multicultural everyday life in London.

CF - How has your collaboration influenced the way you approach music?

Gerald - My music before I met Susi was always described as atmospheric and the kind of music that took you on a journey, but it was primarily instrumental with some sampled vocals.

Most of our songs start out as an idea or a chord progression on acoustic guitar or acoustic piano and then Susi will write/sing over that idea, we then record it and I remove the original piano or guitar that she has sung over and then create an atmosphere and rhythm to support what Susi is singing about and to create the vibe of the track.

I am trying to express an otherworldly futuristic sound, but also an organic sound which is something very important that Susi`s vocal brings to a track. Creativity takes me somewhere else and I am trying to express what I find while I am there.

CF - Your music seems to be very visual, how aware are you to the other senses when you create your music?

Susi - I consciously write lyrics to fire the imagination.

Gerald - I am very aware of the other senses when I am creating mu - http://www.thechickenfishspeaks.com/clinginterview.htm

"There is nothing that appears indie about the "Beyond Your Dreams" music video. It is exquisitely shot and elevates the sonic experience. The intent of a music video is to quickly entice fans and potential fans stumbling on to it. Cling does so without cheap gimmicks. If "Beyond Your Dreams" is not an aberration and represents Cling's current incarnation, then they have found their groove and will undoubtedly expand their audience.
Their following is impressive. In less than a week "Beyond Your Dreams" amassed 4,000 views. Most indie artists have a hard time cracking 1,000 months after posted on YouTube. They even have a 264-0 like vs unlike rating -- the most I have seen without a thumbs down! - diemusicdie.blogspot.com

"A well produced track led by a strong vocal with a well balanced mix that evolves dynamically" - Computer Music issue 148

Cling have been on the scene for some four years now and that's about the right amount of time for releasing a live album.

'Beyond Your Dreams' has such a polished electro-chillout sound that you soon forget that this is a live recording. With the bass cranked up, this track really comes to life, with the beat flickering over the top of the chunky tones like pins cascading over concrete.

The quality of this track (Beyond Your Dreams) is so high, I recommend that you not only give them a listen over on Myspace, but also go check them out live - as they are clearly very good in the flesh. - the-mag.me.u