Clem Snide
The Ghost of Fashion
spinART Records SPART94

by William Michael Smith

She fixed me a dinner of sunflower seeds and Reddy-Whip topping inhaler
And took me down south with Hall & Oates in her mouth
My first love, my Joan Jett of Arc
My black heart was heavy and her mom's Cougar was fast
As "Little Pink Houses" were whistled it was all you could eat at the Sizzler that night
My steak-burnin' Joan Jett of Arc

Clem Snide's The Ghost of Fashion is one of those guilty pleasures that you keep hidden from everyone. For one thing, it has a sound that you just can't be sure other people will easily accept. If you play it at a party, some people will come up and say, "What is that" and you'll know they mean it like "I like that and I want to know more." But just as surely others who say "What is that" will mean it like "Why are you playing that weird stuff." But after the party is over and you're all alone cleaning out the ashtrays, dropping beer cans in the recycle sack, and scraping goose liver pate off the carpet, The Ghost of Fashion is the album you will play as the denouement for your soiree.

If you like albums where the genres get all mixed up and tangled and you like your music to present a bit of mental challenge, Clem Snide's The Ghost of Fashion will be a find for you. Clem Snide (singer/songwriter/guitarist Israeli-born Eef Barzelay; Jason Glasser on cello, violin and keyboards; bassist Jeff Marshall; and drummer Eric Paull) combines the almost-usual indy rock and alt-country sounds, but grafts them onto unusual instrumentation and quirky, often enigmatic lyrics to present one of the most "different" sounds on the indy scene today. The music is smart, it's heady ("Love is only for the lovely"), it's arty, and it is surprisingly fun as it pokes holes in pretense ("I'll just watch your lips and your perfect white teeth/And the cigarette that doesn't belong there"). Both musically and lyrically, you are never far from an unexpected hairpin curve with Clem Snide.

Barzelay's angsty, intellectual-on-Qualudes voice fits his dangerously skewed lyrics and the seemingly disjointed music perfectly. On "Let's Explode," the twangy opening track filled with memorable I-wish-I'd-written-that lines, in keeping with The Ghost of Fashion theme Barzelay sardonically exposes the insecurities and insincerities of beauty with sharpshooter wit and photographic vision.

A peacock died to color my lips
So I died my hair in all their sweat
But now I'm haunted by all these visions of me
I don't wanna live forever
When the sky is full of little holes
Exploding as they take my picture
Let's explode
I don't wanna know me better

Throughout the album we get these aural surprises that give Clem Snide an unmistakably singular sound that is mentally stimulating and sensually pleasing and defies lazy listening. Barzelay is a master of the left-field, how-did-he-think-of-that metaphor and his band is equally adept at inventive arrangements and peculiar instrumental augmentation. "Long Lost Twin" is another anomie-filled twanger that features a brilliant horn track where it seems the mandatory guitar solo should be and ends with a funky little outro tag that absolutely nails the coffin shut on this wicked piece of subtle humor.

The dark red shadows deep beneath your skin
Tonight I feel like Elvis longing for his long lost twin
Like a pigeon choking on a diamond ring
Tonight I feel like Elvis longing for his long lost twin
The highway is a ribbon, it makes a gift of everything
Tonight I feel like Elvis longing for his long lost twin

The musicians turn up the volume and rock fairly conventionally on "Ice Cube," at least until the break where they again completely depart from the rote and obvious with a blaring horn track and carnival little euphonium fills. Barzelay again sings in the perfect vulnerable, fragile voice for this unsure relationship examination.

I'm feeling like the ice cube in your mouth
Melting away
I don't want to leave, unless of course
You ask me to stay
Does anybody ever get what they want?
What do you mean when you talk about love?

"Don't Be Afraid of Your Anger" begins with a blaring brassy dirge movement before descending into a swinging jazzy alt-country (does that compute?) track. With Barzelay, the lyrics just seem to roll out of nowhere and seem almost pointless or casually mundane until he drops the poetic imagery hammer or pulls off a phrase that is totally original and seems completely impossible to have conjured.

Don't be afraid of your anger
I'll eat it with mustard and wine
And the crumbs in your hair
You should shampoo with care
If it's tearless, I'm sure it would say

The instrumental "Evil vs. Good" combines banjo and cello in a spooky mood piece that reminds me of Trailer Bride. For all its overt weirdness, the piece is surprisingly listenable. It plays with your head from beginning to end.

The album has been put together with a great sense of timing and continuity, flowing quite naturally from one song to the next. From the ironic, self-deprecating "Moment In The Sun" ("When it's my moment in the sun/I'll share my problems with the world/And psychosomatically I'll sing/To God and all his pretty girls") to "The Curse of Great Beauty" ("Your toothache is an ivory tower/So let down your long perfect legs/I'll untie the knots with my lips and my tongue/And rub Ambisol into your hair") to the totally quixotic urban love ballad "Joan Jett of Arc," Barzelay's playful mental agility keeps teasing us along, making us attend to the lyrics so we don't miss the next poetic high-dive stunt.

The Stop N Shop is open all night
With a mothering florescent light
The carton pictures a dove
As the intercom crackles with love
No one's more happy than you

The album has a loopy but harmless feel Jay and Silent Bob could love.
Track after unique track, The Ghost of Fashion somehow comes together like chapters of a novel and we are left with a feeling of calm satisfaction as the last note fades.

So what if you can't be sure all your friends will worship Clem Snide? You don't tell them about all your guilty pleasures anyway. So pick a safe, convenient hiding place and get a copy of The Ghost of Fashion. You'll be glad you did when you are alone cleaning up after your next party.

* Visit Clem Snide at www.clemsnide.com and see if you The Ghost of Fashion is an apparition you can appreciate. If you watch Ed, you'll hear Clem Snide's "My Moment In The Sun" playing as the theme. I watched the premier episode last night and I have to say that Clem Snide's song is a perfect fit for the show and the character.




Contact William Michael Smith at: wms-at-rockzilla.net

 
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