Alex Clare: The Lateness Of The Hour

Alex Clare
The Lateness Of The Hour
Rating: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

Over the past couple of years, dubstep has slowly been infiltrating pop music and away from pure bass aggression. Artists as diverse as James Blake, Katy B, and Jamie Woon are adding dubstep textures to their music. Even the first single from Britney Spears' latest album threw in a dubstep break. It is only a matter of time before it is fully embraced by the mainstream, and one indication is the debut album from British singer Alex Clare, The Lateness of the Hour. Produced by Diplo and Switch, the album showcases Clare's soulful voice, but chooses to take the opposite route of traditionalists like Adele, and allows for more wobbly dubstep bass and other international styles, like Moombahton and Reggaton, that Diplo has soaked up over the years. The first half of the album is almost perfection, each track building off the next, taking chances, adding subtle effects and textures. The back half, unfortunately, takes a hug nosedive and never really regains control. What could have been a classic debut album merely becomes a promising one.

Leading off with "Up All Night," the album kicks into full gear with a blast of reggaeton/punk, the pounding drums pulsating under pile-driving guitars.



"Treading Water" begins several notches down, focusing on Clare's beautiful voice over cautious keyboards, before the skittering drums and wobbly dubstep bass enter the picture and take this gorgeous track to another level.



"Relax My Beloved" is the most dramatic and haunting track on the album. Tension filled and ominous, like a blues lament from hell, it clearly is one of the highlights of the album.



"Too Close" also ratchets up the drama, taking almost true hardcore dubstep bass at the chorus, making it stand out in the crowded pop music field.





"Too Close" has recently been featured in an ad for Bing and Internet Explorer.

Despite a misjudged cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry," the album continues with album highlight "Hummingbird," the simplest and most heartfelt song on the record. Minimal instrumentation never detracts from Clare's impassioned vocal.



The remainder of the album, unfortunately just doesn't live up to the first half. "Hands Are Clever" starts the downward spiral, beginning strongly with blasts of funk horns and guitar, but descending to almost comical levels on the chorus, sounding like a third rate Sly Stone cover band.



"Tightrope" and "Whispering" are fairly minimalistic tracks that oversell their dubstep trappings. And the final two tracks, the ballads "Sanctuary" and "I Won't Let You Down," suffer from being over-top and too minimal, respectively. Only "Love You" retains the magic of the first half of the record, evoking the sound of recent solo work from Jamie Smith of The xx.



Although the back half of the record lacks the immediacy of the front half, it is still undeniable that Clare is an artist to watch. It just appears that Clare might have been apprehensive about making an album that was entirely dubstep influenced, and tossed in some tracks that would make the album more palatable to a wider audience. Instead of making the album better, it just shows how the dubstep tracks support his vocals better. Based on the first half of the record, however, I am still anxiously waiting to see what else this guy can do.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.