My Brother Woody

"fizzes with classic pop sentiment, surfing on a wave of sacchrine keys, breathy doo-wops and mellifluous horns, cleare's sunbeam arrangments will brighten anyone's day" - (8/10 - Hotpress)
- Hotpress

"Offaly's Mike Cleare is a name to watch. This impressive self-made debut is the work of a songwriter very much in love with classic West Coast pop.there's no denying the quality of Another Wave Of Harmony or a song that recalls the kookiness of Jens Lekman -- the delicious Getting Old Goes With Getting Fat. You sense a top-drawer producer would be able to make magic from such gems as promising material as the Brian Wilson-esque Super Serotonin Girl." - John Meagher (Irish Independent) - Irish Independent

"Here's the scenario: What if Dennis Wilson sang with The Pernice Brothers and the songs were co-written by Pernice, Paul Westerberg of The Replacements, Style Council era Paul Weller, Crowded House and arranged by Brian Wilson and Sufjan Stevens? It would be "My Brother Woody". This record is pop with a capital "P". This is a great CD and it shows a lot of work and dedication to the art of songwriting. The arrangements are mature and subtle and the lead vocals are strong and sure. If you like your music catchy and filled with pop, meaningful and with a lot of soul, you'll be buying "My Brother Woody" this Christmas for several of your most musically discriminating friends."-- (Nelson Bragg - Brian Wilson Band) - Nelson Bragg

"Orchestral/Baroque pop fans will want to get this for sure. Keep an eye on this artist, as I expect great things to come" - (8/10 Powerpopaholic.com) - powerpopaholic.com

"fizzes with classic pop sentiment, surfing on a wave of sacchrine keys, breathy doo-wops and mellifluous horns, cleare's sunbeam arrangments will brighten anyone's day" - (8/10 - Hotpress)

"Warm, euphoric and totally infectious melodies" (4/5 The Star)

"Offaly's Mike Cleare is a name to watch. This impressive self-made debut is the work of a songwriter very much in love with classic West Coast pop.there's no denying the quality of Another Wave Of Harmony or a song that recalls the kookiness of Jens Lekman -- the delicious Getting Old Goes With Getting Fat. You sense a top-drawer producer would be able to make magic from such gems as promising material as the Brian Wilson-esque Super Serotonin Girl." - John Meagher (Irish Independent)

"It's rare to find good music this way (myspace) but the songs I heard were really great!!!" --Blaine - (The New Pornographers)

"Here's the scenario: What if Dennis Wilson sang with The Pernice Brothers and the songs were co-written by Pernice, Paul Westerberg of The Replacements, Style Council era Paul Weller, Crowded House and arranged by Brian Wilson and Sufjan Stevens? It would be "My Brother Woody". This record is pop with a capital "P". This is a great CD and it shows a lot of work and dedication to the art of songwriting. The arrangements are mature and subtle and the lead vocals are strong and sure. If you like your music catchy and filled with pop, meaningful and with a lot of soul, you'll be buying "My Brother Woody" this Christmas for several of your most musically discriminating friends."-- (Nelson Bragg - Brian Wilson Band)

"Orchestral/Baroque pop fans will want to get this for sure. Keep an eye on this artist, as I expect great things to come" - (8/10 Powerpopaholic.com)

"Catchy summer pop, highly talented musicianship, well crafted lyrics" (4/5 isthismusic.com)

"There is plenty on this record to demonstrate that MBW deserve a much wider audience" (7/10 americana-uk.com)

"Mellifluous Americana-tinged pop, It's great to see an Irish musician releasing an album like this, and hopefully it won't lie under the radar for too long" - (Album of the week - Kildare Nationalist)

"Hey Mike, i got the cd and i am in love" --Kramer (Ween, Daniel Johnston, Joyzipper)

"Warm indie-rock awash with the summer harmonies of late 60s pop culture, the début album from My Brother Woody is proving to be quite a pleasant indulgence since arriving through the Frequency-Ireland postbox....the album is nicely poised between dippy and melancholic moods, and is quite a triumph of indie-pop" - (8/10 Frequency Ireland)

"a fab name derived from that cool Free Design song, and gently breathed musical landscapes not unlike compadres The Thrills. Musically it's a bit more brainy with piano, glockenspiel, horns and harmonies creating a world weary Cali-burn out sound, recalling both the glory years of '67-74 and today's acolytes ala Rufus Wainwright and Ben Folds." - Jon "Mojo" Mills - (Shindig Magazine)

"A deceptively slow false start eventually paves way to a bevy of tracks that gently thump, fizzle and burble while simultaneously emitting occasional glints of glorious sunshine. Your New Found Taste and When Summer Comes wistfully dander along a charminglyl-paced path, while almost every track is infused with swoonsome, harmony-laden backing vocals" - Lauren Murphy (Entertainment.ie)

"C’est fun, plus que ça, c’est classe" - (Sucrepop.com)

"the album is full of infectiously catchy melodic alt rock sounds with a real emphasis on the summery pop sound, the album has a real east coast sixties pop feel to it at times with lots of great vocal harmonies and some lovely mellow brass sounds, features eleven superbly written catchy pop songs" - (Road Records) - Everyone

My Brother Woody is the work of a one man band called Michael Cleare and it's obvious he's well eared in the art of the pop hook. He's already released a 7 song self titled EP and since that didn't set the world alight he is about to go the whole hog and release a full LP. The indications are good, for a singer songwriter much of what I've heard goes beyond the delicately strummed guitar and into the fertile landscape of crystal harmonies, wandering brass and the odd shot of glockenspiel.

Teenage Fanclub and the Beach Boys spring to mind when cosying up to the layers of melodies provided by 'Wish I Was A DJ'. Probably won't surface, any day soon, on daytime radio but when there's a continental college scene to harvest it hardly matters. This is precise indiepop with enough gadgetry to capture the attention of an army of fans. KD

view review at - http://mp3hugger.blogspot.com/2006/11/my-brother-woody-wish-i-was-dj.html
- mp3hugger.com

View a review of my brother woody at frequency ireland by clicking the link below or just read the text underneath

http://frequency-ireland.blogspot.com/2006/12/my-brother-woody-my-brother-woody.html

My Brother Woody uploaded a few tracks from the forthcoming album, titled 'It's A Long Way From That Sort Of Thing You Were Raised'. The album is due sometime next April or so. Track 'Wish I Was A DJ' recently received a big thumbs up from the mp3hugger blog for capturing that Beach Boys meets Teenage Fanclub without sounding to have a particular need to sell out to the masses. I couldn't agree more, it's a rather excellent tune.

While its a music not to my general tastes, it would be hard to knock it for what it is, cosey indiepop with melodies and harmonies which will effortlessly work their way into your head and make you feel it was summer again. In that light, the choice track of those currently available on the myspace page is 'Hanging Around' which perhaps best captures the mood of what My Brother Woody does best in a carefree indiepop spirit, although the more laid back 'Another Wave of Harmony', the opening track to the forthcoming album also has a lot of charm. These tracks can be previewed on the My Brother Woody myspace, where the track 'Wish I Was A DJ' is available for download. - Frequency Ireland

Hotpress Single Review

My Brother Woody
Hanging Around [GLASSHOUSE]

Not that you'd know it from the photo on the front (a bloke with red hair stood in front of a bus) but "Hanging Around" is quite the winner, another record that tempts fate by going on about the summer although the upbeat nature of the whole thing carries it through, complete with shiny trumpet and rousing chorus. Good stuff.

Phil Udell (Hotpress - 25th July 2007) - Hotpress