His Clancyness
Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy | Established. Jan 01, 2010 | INDIE
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ometown: Bologna, Italy.
The lineup: Jonathan Clancy (vocals, guitar), Paul Pieretto (bass), Jacopo Borazzo (drums), Giulia Mazza (synths, keyboards, noise boxes, vocals, percussion), Emanuela Drei (bass, sampler, vocals).
The background: His Clancyness is the alias of Bologna-based Canadian Jonathan Clancy, who used to be in a six-piece band called A Classic Education. Now he's sort of solo, sort of the frontman of a band, although the outfit name confirms who's boss. He sings, he writes the songs; the others are there to realise his vision.
His musical vision is hard to sum up. Throughout, you'll go, "Oh, that reminds me of" - "Ah, that sounds like -" but you will struggle to fill in the gaps. It's highly referential yet it eludes specific comparisons. Clancy himself describes his debut proper Vicious as "a sassy, dreamy, glam rock'n'roll album", which tells some of the story. We hear 70s New York art-punk and late-80s US indie in general but also, yes, glam in the catchiness of the tracks, and elements of krautrock in the driving force - the manic motorik - of the rhythms, although they are rhythms, not beats: this is mainly non-electronic stuff. It's a rock band, basically, whatever the behind-scenes politics and jockeying for positions.
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And lyrically, it's - well, the album's called Vicious, isn't it, surely deliberately: there are echoes of Lou Reed throughout in Clancy's deadpan delivery, a droll monotone that occasionally converts to something a little more tender. But why Vicious? "I want to be vicious. I can't be vicious. I can be vicious on an album made up of songs," he has said. He has talked about how he's lived in 12 different cities and the emotional distance that that creates between himself, his new homes and the people there. It makes him feel vicious, or at least feel like feeling vicious. We're not sure what he means, but we're guessing that he relishes the cold hard sensation of alienation as much as he recoils from it.
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Some of the tracks on Vicious make you not care either way because they're bog-standard indie rock, but the better ones are playlist-worthy. Safe Around the Edges recalls the artier wing of the CBGBs scene, Clancy adopting the snarky, superior, nasal seen-it-all drone beloved of so many post-Lou frontmen. Miss Out These Days brings to mind bands we haven't thought about for ages like Ultra Vivid Scene or Galaxie 500. So far, so average. Things get more engaging with Slash the Night, reminiscent in its elegiacal sadness, expressed via the icy keyboard chords, of side two of Joy Division's Closer. Run Wild is a three-chord post-Velvets chug, with some glimmering guitar to offset the tedium. Machines features a well Suicide-al tinny drum machine, and Zenith Diamond is a ramshackle hurtle. Then there's Avenue, a stark heartbreaker comprising Clancy at his most bereft intoning the line, "Knowing that it won't work out" over a sad acoustic strum, enhanced by glacial strings. Good songs, varied in terms of structure and arrangement, with intriguing lyrics - look at us enjoying music by a largely un-electronic rock band! - The Guardian
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/15355-his-clancyness-machines/ - Pitchfork
He may or may not be related to NHL Hall of Fame defenceman King Clancy, but singer/guitarist Jonathan Clancy is definitely His Clancyness. At least, he was until recently. In the few years that passed since Clancy released Vicious, his 2013 debut album on FatCat Records, relentless touring has seen the line-up of His Clancyness solidified with drummer Jacopo Beta, synthesist Giulia Mazza and bassist Nico Pasquini, and their sound has never been richer.
Out now on Maple Death Records, the double A-side 7-inch single Pale Fear b/w Coming Up Empty marked the first time the whole band worked their synergy on tape. While Canadian ex-pat Clancy calls Italy home these days, and the song was partly developed in the wee hours at their now-retired basement Strange City Studios in Bologna, “Pale Fear” was mastered in Montreal after being recorded in Bristol by Stu Matthews (Beak, Anika) at Invada Studios, the home of Portishead. Though it lacks the hop, it has all the trip one could absorb in its dreamy, shoegazey noise-pop.
“Pale Fear” has a downward tumbling guitar melody paired with plodding drums and plaintive vocals delivering soul searching lyrics, yearning for personal transformation in order to survive modern city life, all of which is uplifted by a revolutionary hook with fuzz-blast guitar and dreamily droning synth. The theme is underscored by Giulia Mazza’s video, as a veiled figure rambles and flails about a city over the course of a day, turning into a Lost Boys extra as the daylight fades at the song’s bridge. Check it out now below. - Tiny Mix Tapes
His Clancyness premiere new song “Coming Up Empty”
By The Line Of Best Fit / 09 June 2016, 15:00 BST
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His Clancyness premiere new song “Coming Up Empty”
Best Fit Premiere
"Pale Fear" / "Coming Up Empty" is the first release to come from His Clancyness in over 3 years, but trust us, it's been well worth the wait.
Both tracks were cooked up in late night sessions at the band's Bologna basement headquarters - Strange City Studios - but recorded in Bristol at Portishead's Invada Studios by Stu Matthews (Beak>, Anika, Portishead) and are due out tomorrow via Maple Death Records.
We have a sneak peak at one half of the puzzle in "Coming Up Empty". It's a mournful number whose lethargic guitars and lingering keys close in on Jonathan Clancy's gravelly vocals to produce an uneasy claustrophia, not unlike a scene from Twin Peaks - certainly towards the end as we move into more textured territory and the synths take centre stage. - The Line Of Best Fit
His Clancyness began as a solo project for A Classic Education frontman Jonathan Clancy, an outlet for some of his less-pop, low-fi musical excursions. Over time, however, it became his main concern and morphed into an actual band. That’s apparent on His Clancyness’ new album, Isolation Culture, which finds the group in full blossom. They made the LP at Portishead’s Invada Studios with Matthew Johnson (Hookworms) and Stu Matthews (BEAK>, Anika, Portishead), and the dark vibe that that may conjure is definitely apparent here, but so is Clancy and the group’s way with a chorus. If you dig Wolf Parade and Preoccupations, you will likely find much to like here.
The album, which includes single “Pale Fear,” is out Friday, October 14 via Hand Drawn Dracula/Maple Death but you can stream the whole LP, which premieres in this post, below.
Read More: listen to His Clancyness’ new LP ‘Isolation Culture’ | http://www.brooklynvegan.com/listen-to-his-clancyness-new-lp-isolation-culture/?trackback=tsmclip - Brooklyn Vegan
In Internet time, it feels like forever since we last heard from Jonathan Clancy, the mastermind behind dream-pop project His Clancyness. It turns out Clancy's got a cassette of new material, Always Mist, ready for release on Mirror Universe Tapes, and he's been working on new material as well, including the lo-fi, new-wave tinged tune "Summer Majestic". - Pitchfork
Ottawa/Bologna’s His Clancyness sent over this brand new song, taken from his upcoming, as-yet-untitled Mirror Universe Tapes release. “Mistify the Ocean” — misspelling intentional, I assume — is a hazy, wistful slowdance that falls somewhere between the gently lilting melancholy of his “Misinterpret My Words” and his dreamy, Shins-leaning pop gem “Ottawa Backfired Soon“: - Gorilla Vs Bear
Don't have much info on this artist calling himself His Clancyness, but he's contributing a track to the inaugural release of the We Were Never Being Boring label, and it's a cover of Wavves' summer jam "So Bored". This chilled-out version dunks the surf-punk original underwater, emerging with a more Surfer Rosa-tinted shoegazer. - Pitchfork
If you’ve ever attempted to write a love letter and it included the word “nahmean,” you’re either a genius or you’ve done something terribly wrong. Why risk it when you could just plagiarize His Clancyness onto a nice piece of stationary? By the time he’s famous enough for her to realize the uncanny similarities in your poetry and his, you should have enough kids together to convince her it was a sweet gesture and not the action of a weak heart. And then you can listen to this song and laugh about it while you do the dishes for the next 40 years to make up for it. Steal away after the jump and look for the single soon on Mirror Universe.
- The Fader
On the verge of a cassette release via Mirror Universe Tapes, His Clancyness is sharing “Mistify the Ocean” to keep us warm while we’re on the verge of an “arctic outbreak” (I live in Texas so I probably shouldn’t be complaining about cold weather). Jonathan Clancy has been keeping our headphones happy all last year, and we’re looking forward to a full LP-like release. - Weekly Tape Deck
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
Isolation Culture released on Maple Death Records / Tannen Records (Eu/Uk) and Hand Drawn Dracula (ROW) is His Clancyness’ sophomore album and follows Vicious, their debut on England’s seminal FatCat Records. The record saw the band blaze a relentless trail across Europe and the US, hitting well over 150 cities across multiple tours before setting their sites on writing LP number 2.
The band began life as the solo project of singer/guitarist Jonathan Clancy but has since found a new form inspired by the camaraderie of life on the road. The group has evolved into a collaborative tour-hardened minimal noise-pop machine that features Jacopo Beta’s propulsive drumming, Giulia Mazza’s alien synthesizers, the commanding low thump of Nico Pasquini’s bass playing along with Clancy’s trademark fidgeting guitar work and his usual stirring lyrical resolve.
Over the last two years the band have retired to their Bologna basement HQ, Strange City Studios to put to use the newly-honed aesthetic and write a new clutch of anti-hits. Here they conducted late-night 4track experiments, embarked upon curious sonic investigations, threw the odd party and emerged with fistfuls of inspired compositions that make up their compelling new album.
They approached both Matthew Johnson (or MJ as he is known as front man of krautrock band Hookworms) at Suburban Home Studio, Leeds and Stu Matthews (Beak, Anika, Portishead) at Portishead’s Invada Studio to capture the spirit of their experimentation and wrestle it into the succinct art-pop LP that you hear today.
Both producers allow His Clancyness’ restless and assertive songs shimmer through the lo-fi murk of noisy home-recorded tape loops and analogue hiss.
Pale Fear’s cassette-recorded beat rumbles through neon-lit streets of synth noise and sleazy fuzz guitar; Uranium twists and turns, hallucinating a bleak future for the listener whilst Dreams Building Dreams denounces the Italian government’s senseless austere cuts to arts and culture with Clancy’s scathing lyrics and a synth-sax freakoutro. Impulse channels Gun Club’s romantic side whilst ballads like Calm Reaction & Watch Me Fall feel like Plastic Ono Band anti-theme tunes for an apocalypse occurring in slow motion.
Isolation Culture is a record from another place. It could be a recording snatched from a wormhole to a parallel universe where weathered Bowie statues pepper the abandoned city streets and Swell Maps’ music is piped into empty runaway subway cars. Maybe it’s the final psychedelic transmission from a radio station in flames or maybe it turned up on your lawn, delivered by an overnight tornado from somewhere that no longer exists.
But what if Isolation Culture is part of the evidence that suggests that there are bands making records just like this one hidden in all the shadows in all the cities in the world? We can only hope that there are.
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