Miriam Clancy

...With hints of Cocteau Twins and CHRVCHES entwined in the song, it has a bassline that reverberates and rolls like an unexpected thunderstorm on a summer’s day - ANALOGUE TRASH (UK)

Miriam Clancy announces her return with noise and urgency - the dreamy track with its eerie shoegaze guitars - There’s both an evanescent beauty and a dose of strength and self-confidence to the track, a combo that makes it assuredly magic and elusive. - High Clouds (US)

You might feel transported elsewhere when you hear the new indie wave meets magical, The Sound, by New York and Pennsylvania based New Zealander Miriam Clancy. For me, the aesthetic flourishes images of art rockers with shiny leather jackets and pants and audaciously askew neon haircuts in the recesses of dark Hollywood clubs watching a band with angular guitars and synth drums. Behind the band is world of static video signals, everything from Siouxie and the Banshees and The Never Ending Story floating and then dissolving into shots of The Cure's Lovesong video that further dissolves into David Bowie in The Labyrinth. You will obviously be transported to other places but Miriam Clancy's delicious and emotional aesthetic married with deep cut bass and drum grooves and dreamy synths will most certainly move you as well. It is a blend of post punk, 80's new wave, goth, baroque pop and magic itself. - Robb Donker - American Pancake (US)

'Astronomy', a shoegaze alt-pop extravaganza featuring Miriam’s angelic voice accompanied by her penchant for hook-filled chord progressions and poetic lyrics.
‘Astronomy’ is not only well thought out but planned and executed with the brilliance and captivation of a true artist who knows how to put the pieces together and fit those pieces into a beautiful soundtrack that yearns to be played from track one to ten in order. - Jammerzine (US)

Miriam Clancy has shared 'The Bells' the lead off single from 'Astronomy', her first album in nine years and it's a gorgeous rocker where the solid soundtrack and her gliding melodic vocals although seemingly opposites work fabulously together. - Beehive Candy (US)

“It’s a heavenly song with lush synths and beautiful vocals from Clancy. The dreamscape conjuring music is so glorious it puts you in a europhic state - an otherworldly feel with Clancy’s voice serving as the angels who welcome you in. There is a lot musically going in this track but it all combines together perfectly to make for a stunning, uplifting listen”.
(The Sound) - Morph, Indie Midlands (UK)

"Auckland’s Miriam Clancy is a name which will be on many people’s lips if she tours to promote this, her excellent debut album ...Clancy’s tales are wonderfully absorbed. With crisp acoustic guitar over a tight band, her stark ballads — including the lyrically adept The Game, Solemn Brigade, And So It Begins — expose her soul, laying bare songs of sorrow and loss. Her assured and distinctive vocal is at one with her commanding presence. Elsewhere, the catchy pop of Don’t Let It Get You Down and the upfront Transistor Radio display more energy. For a debut album Lucky One is mature, passionate and highly memorable."
***** Steve Scott, Waikato Times
- Waikato Times

"It could almost be a sin to love Miriam Clancy's pain if it wasn't so cathartic. But on a debut album that puts the person back into the personal, songs like "The Day The Earth Stood Still", "The Game" and "And So It Begins" fall apart and expose frailties and wounds in such a beautifully beguiling, bare to the bones way, you can't help yourself for wanting her to hurt some more. An album to lose and find yourself in."
*****Mike Alexander - Sunday Star Times

AN IMPRESSIVE OFFERING FROM TWO FINELY MATCHED SINGER-SONGWRITERS (Print Headline)

...Sexsmith once again proved that in a world of acoustic-toting troubadours, he really is something special.

So is Miriam Clancy, the Auckland-based singer-songwriter getting some deserved attention for her independent debut Lucky One who opened the night with a impressive acoustic set which nicely dialled back the rockier numbers from the album and simply enchanted on the bittersweet ballads. - Russell Baillie - The New Zealand Herald

"Singer-songwriter Miriam Clancy has gained much respect up and down the country with her debut album "Lucky One", and at Sohl she proved that live she is also a winner. With dynamic vocals, intelligent songs, charming confidence and feeling guitar work, Clancy is New Zealand's answer to Martha Wainwright. She is destined to go places." Steve Scott - Waikato Times

MIRIAM CLANCY
Lucky one
(Rhythmethod)
Located somewhere between alt.country Americana and subtle folk-rock, Aucklander Clancy brought a wealth of hard-won life experiences to this exceptionally mature and emotionally riveting debut. _ Graham Reid - New Zealand Herald

A name likely to be on everyone’s lips this summer is Miriam Clancy.

This girl is one dedicated muso – she sold her house to pay for her debut album, Lucky One. Clancy grew up in Foxton, but her career in music has taken her around the world, from Malaysia to the US, and seen her fronting local bands, choreographing, directing, assisting studio recordings and sound engineering.

In 2001 she was ready to move from ‘being in the trade’ towards a more personal approach, focusing solely on writing and performing her own music.
Lucky One is already being met with high praise from critics. It’s a beautiful album. Clancy has a sweet, powerful voice and her music has hints of rock, country and pop.

A girlie version of Elliot Smith or Jeff Buckley - a soul laid bare, but with a pretty twist.

She’s currently on tour here, stopping in more than 20 towns and cities until the middle of December. Worth a listen.

Josie Steenhart, editor, Pulp Magazine
- Pulp Magazine

MIRIAM CLANCY
Lucky one
(Rhythmethod)
Located somewhere between alt.country Americana and subtle folk-rock, Aucklander Clancy brought a wealth of hard-won life experiences to this exceptionally mature and emotionally riveting debut. _ Graham Reid - New Zealand Herald

The first thing you notice is that Miriam Clancy doesn't lack for dynamic range. On "Girl About Town" she's all deep and breathy measured tones over folk guitar and slow organ. On the second track, "Don't Let It Get You Down", she's hollering up a storm. There's even a bigger tempest on the finale, "Fool I Am", which flares into a blaze on its single scorching chorus.
Go back a few tracks to "Dry Your Eyes" or "The Day The Earth Stood Still" and its hard not to hear them as among the best songs Chrissie Hyndes never wrote.
Clancy and her small band of local notables deliver "Lucky One" with a musical economy that neatly ties in this quiet-quiet-loud album into a cohesive whole. Thats even when it's doing unashamedly country things as it does on "The Game".
But what hits home about the 11 tracks is how much heartache and anger seep through Clancy's songs. And that she's just as impressive brooding elegantly through another break-up or shouting the house down. If she's a late bloomer by female singer-songwriter standards, waiting until she really had something to say has worked out for the best" - (Lucky One) 4 Star Album Review - Russell Baillie, The New Zealand Herald

Best Of Elsewhere 2006
Miriam Clancy: Lucky One (Rhythmethod)

I'll declare my hand here: some months ago I was sent an early copy of this album and invited to write the bio for Clancy -- an Auckland-based singer-songwriter I had not met or seen live.
I had no hesitation: this 11 song debut of originals was so full of lyrical maturity, sophisticated song writing, heartfelt songs and raw emotions (I'm now quoting from the bio, obviously) that I happily agreed to go in to bat for her.
I posted this album here many weeks back (it subsequently got a four star review in the Herald and there was a full page interview with her) and a couple of weeks ago I got to see her finally, she played a blinder of a set at the Odeon Lounge in Auckland.
My faith was vindicated: she can do it on disc and on stage.
Miriam opens for Ron Sexsmith at Auckland's Transmission Room on Sunday Sept 24. Don't miss her -- and Ron's worth catching too, of course.

Located somewhere on the folk-rock/alt.country axis and honed by time in Los Angeles this album is uniformly impressive. There's a bit of soul in the mix too.
As the guy who wrote the bio says, "If intelligent singer-songwriters and Americana alt.country artists just off the edge of the mainstream appeal to you, then you'll need no further invitation to listen up to Miriam Clancy." He's right.

Graham Reid, Elsewhere - www.elsewhere.co.nz

Miriam Clancy has been winning fans and critical praise as a regular on the live music scene in Auckland for some time now, with the release of her debut album, she tenders her application to become NZ's favourite new singer-songwriter. Recorded mostly at York Street Studios in 2006 and co-produced by Clancy and Steve Roberts. Lucky One is a document of Clancy hitting her stride as a songwriter and also showcases her extraordinary palette of emotion, and great range and tone, as a vocalist.
All the way from the stripped down soul of opening track [and first single] "Girl About Town" to the climactic finale of album closer "Fool I Am" Clancy takes the listener on a musical and emotional roller coaster ride through 11 gorgeous soul-baring country-tinged pop songs.
The depth of talent here is evident in the fact that Lucky One runs the full gamut of styles from the joyous Americana of "Transistor Radio" to the soulful 60s pop of the title track to the Jewel-esque balladry of "Dry Your Eyes". many of these songs are guaranteed to replay themselves in your head for days after hearing them. Perennial live favourite "The Game" uses poker game imagery to paint a sad and moving picture of a relationship on the rocks and this song in itself shows a deft song writing touch at work.
I would recommend Lucky One to anyone who enjoys well-crafted, emotionally raw - yet accessible - songs delivered with passion and sensitivity. † 4/5 - SMH, Amplifier (NZ)

New Zealand singer-songwriter Miriam Clancy has a whirlwind of good publicity surrounding her; she’s even been compared to the likes of alt-country legends Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch.

But Clancy is humbled by those sort of comparisons. She is, after all, a girl from the provinces who learned to play rock and roll in hard working covers bands.

Born in Mangere and raised in Foxton from the age of six, Clancy left school at beginning of sixth form and went straight into a band. “I was working in a crappy factory in Levin and there was an access course next door. They were learning how to play and write music so I started hanging out there. I picked up a microphone and started singing — they kicked their singer out and we started playing the pub circuit. We were really shit.”

After years on the pub circuit, Clancy decided to back herself and step forward as a solo artist. “Because I’d been singing for a living, I was doing heaps of gigs that I hated. You find that when you sell your craft out you need a bit of time to stop and regroup. I moved from doing shitty pubs to cossie clubs and eventually to flash jazz places in Wellington and then corporate gigs in Malaysia doing Celine Dion. I reached my maximum – although I was earning heaps of money I needed to stop and concentrate on writing.”

So two years ago, Clancy travelled to Los Angeles and surprised herself. “It was to get my confidence up, broaden my horizons in a different environment, go into a hothouse. It certainly was that.”

There are a lot of hard working acts over there, she says. “I saw people selling themselves out, even if they were crap, because they believed in themselves. It made me think, I have supporters, I should give it a go. It was a kick in the arse.”

Clancy was received well in the USA and industry people told her to get an album together quick-smart. Most of the songs were written during her stay there, and recorded back here in NZ at Auckland’s York Street Studio.

The result, Lucky One, really is a pearler of an album. Clancy has a strong voice and a musical style that sits across the divide between alt-country and pop. The songs are about love and breakups, but they’re utterly convincing, well written and immaculately performed. She holds her voice back in the right places, delivering a broad range of emotion and a complete performance within each song.

“Dry Your Eyes” channels the Carpenters’ “Superstar” before hitting a glorious, hook-laden chorus. On the album’s closer, “Fool I Am”, she comes across like a contemporary rocking Sharon O’Neill. There are flashes of influence from artists as broad as Al Green and Ryan Adams. And the title track “Lucky One” just confirms her country influence.

Here’s the opener from the album Lucky One, called “Girl About Town”. Looks like there’s a new Sweetheart of the Rodeo in town. - The Spare Room