ALBUM REVIEW: The Clements Brothers’ Harmonies Float on ‘Dandelion Breeze’

With the release of their debut full-length album, Dandelion Breeze, The Clements Brothers add a new dimension to the concept of blood harmony. Identical twins George and Charles Clements, formerly of The Lonely Heartstring Band, have created a collection of songs that make the most of the uncanny blend of their voices. The pair trade off lead vocals throughout the album, sometimes doubling on a melody before breaking into a harmony that is gentler than that of other brothers their sound brings to mind — The Everly Brothers or The Louvin Brothers.

The pair also have songwriting credits for all the tracks but the last: Their take on Nirvana’s “All Apologies” suits their vocal style so well it could have been written for them. From the opening cut, “Help Myself,” the soothing vocals and the acoustic accompaniment set the mood for the poetry of the songs.

“Morning Train” opens with the pulsing bass and drums that pick up the pace, echoing like a train rumble through the song about “waiting on a change to come in Babylon.”

With George on guitar and Charles on bass (with the occasional flugelhorn or tenor sax in the mix), the instrumentals never overpower the lyrics. The single instrumental track, “As the Crow Flies,” showcases the Clements’ composition skills as well, with an Irish flavor added by Jenna Moynihan on fiddle and Mike Harmon on bouzouki. A fixture in the band, Harmon accompanies the brothers on drums on all the tracks. A wide array of other instrumentalists — from pedal steel to strings — contribute to the texture throughout.

The Clements Brothers (photo by Toan Trinh)

The title song is a gentle, evocative look back to the hopes of early marriage, punctuated by the challenge to “go out and give it a run” since “this life we’re living was made to be free.” By contrast, “Hello Daniel” provides a character sketch encompassing “a fist fight on Long Island” early in a friendship and road trips to Southern Illinois, crashing cars and “feed[ing] demons.” Finally, Daniel is offered a farewell:

I hope you burned bright with a pen in your hand
Writing poems on a napkin visions of your native land
Where jesters play on harps and angels sing in punk rock bands.

One of the most haunting tracks, “Call It a Night,” is reminiscent — both vocally and instrumentally — of the ’70s love songs of Art Garfunkel, Leo Sayer, or Carly Simon. The song begins with “a random draw” and “first swipe.” It makes a subtle shift from “I think I’ll call it a night” to meeting a girl on a train, humming a tune, and then the closing line, “I think we should call it a night.” If this album were a Broadway play, “Call It a Night” is the song the audience would be humming as they leave the theater.

The Clements Brothers’ Dandelion Breeze is out Aug. 25 on Plow Man Records.