I love a record with a good backstory or a producer dragging a mythos behind him and Clive From Accounts‘ debut has both. Clive could be anybody, but he’s a very particular kind of “anybody.” He’s a mild-mannered, seemingly anonymous office worker distinguished only by his Swingline stapler or his furtive decision to use Linux as a desktop concealed beneath a clever skin to look like Windows 10. He’s an enigma, but you’d never know it unless you got to know him, which nobody does. It’s tragic, he’s a tragic figure, but at least he’s not burned the building down or gone insane yet.
Presumably on furlough with the rest of us Clive has engaged in his secret passion for making 4/4 beats. An EP in a decidedly deep house vein, The Trouble With Clive is as you would expect somewhat off-kilter and its idiosyncrasies make it that much richer. The title track could be played halfway through any 60 minute deep house, only attracting notice when those multicolored melodies bubble up from the surface. “Keep Movin'” too could conceal itself between any two gospel-influenced tracks before flipping everyone’s heads after the break.
Clive From Accounts: The Trouble With Clive EP / Outplay (April 17 2020 / 12″ Vinyl/Digital)
A1. Clive From Accounts: “Keep Movin'” (5:44)
B1. Clive From Accounts: “The Trouble With Clive” (5:44)
B2. Clive From Accounts: “Bisou” (4:46)
