Sweet Tableaux

Where the Mid West meets the Left Bank is the place Les Clochards inhabit, like a bunch of elegantly grizzled dilettantes, immersed in Bordeaux, Rimbaud and Johnny Cash. Les Clochards' sweet magic is in mixing the warm homeliness of Parisian caf folk with the earthiness of American country music - at the heart of which is the contrast between Ian Nixon's Cash-meets-Roy Orbison croon and Corinne Mateo's rich Gallic vocals... The prevailing mood of the band's debut album is one of romantic regret through a red wine haze... Not that 'Sweet Tableaux' is unrelentingly melancholy. Opening number 'Pride Prevents Pt.1' comes with ebullient accordion, shimmering surf guitar and powerfully grizzled Orbison croon all making for a carefree swing, while 'Lavinia' is possessed with campfire singalong jollity, again with Karen Cleave's accordion flourish to the fore... Les Clochards exude a well-mannered feeling of tight-lipped sorrow, an autumnal shadow on the soul left by years of small but life-affecting mistakes... a fine balance of moods and a mature grasp of emotion that mean 'Sweet Tableaux' is one of the most subtly crafted and lyrically gripping albums by a local band you'll hear this year. Sue Foreman, Nightshift, May 2009.