Clementine Was Right and the deep cuts, complex life and death of "Takes Tall Walks"

 

"I loved the kitchens of all my friends / Every mug for whiskey, every regal pet / And I bumped the knobs on all their stoves / It wasn't my job, but I never let go..."

When it comes to musical styles that come close to heartland rock, to Americana rock, it almost always feels nostalgic, makes you gaze at your own reflection of a younger you and of your connections to those who raised you, those who may no longer be around physically to give you warm hugs. "Takes Tall Walks" by Clementine Was Right, the songwriting project of poetry and fiction writer Mike Young, is exactly that kind of song. The songwriting here is emotionally vast while still feeling incredibly intimate. Cast in broad electric guitar strokes and stare up at the stars vocal wails I thought about a diverse brand of artists like Bruce Springsteen, Marshall Crenshaw, The Plimsouls, The War On Drugs. 

"Takes Tall Walks" feels iconic, a black and white movie that turns up the color in the last ten minutes about love and loss, about the pain of being a 'modern' man and about things that weren't said that you will always beat yourself over. It will create goose bumps on your skin, make you tear up and have you singing along on the chorus. 

"You told the world I feel lost // You told the world let me off // You watched the lightning take tall walks // You told the world I // Feel lost..."

Of the song Mike Young shares this:

"My dad and I didn't talk for the last few years of his life. I wish we had. The last few years, I had a lot of friends who gave up. I wish they called. This is a song about desperate waves. It marks a push away from Americana into full-throated Sam Fender/The Killers western emo. There is a surprising pedal steel solo."

-Robb Donker Curtius

Clementine Was Right · Takes Tall Walks

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

https://theblueturn.com/clementinewasright/

https://www.facebook.com/clementinewasright

https://clementinewasright.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/clementine_was_right/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/78FYLtixjSu0bgFRXfj7cZ


Clementine Was Right is the songwriting project of poet and fiction writer Mike Young. Chronicling years of uprooting—from Northern California to New England, Alaska to New Mexico—the music gallops and sways through hook-smeared bootgaze and cosmic scoot, harmonizing and storytelling.


After releasing three books of poems and stories in the early 2010s (with praise from VICE, BOMB, The Believer), Mike moved to New Mexico and started Clementine Was Right in 2016. Now based in Denver, with collaborators from Arkansas to Hawaii, the band will release their second LP, Can't Get Right With the Darkness, in March 2022.

Recorded at Memphis Magnetic, Can't Get Right With the Darkness confidently matures the band's vision with bolder joys and darker waves. This record is for dancing even deeper and the feathers on the river, the strangers you made along the way and the candles you don't know how to hold.

It sounds a little like The Flying Burrito Brothers asking Magnolia Electric Co. to help them find Texacala Jones's lost cabin on the Pacific coast. For an ideal listening experience, we suggest taking the next bus out of your hometown, meeting St. Francis and his wolves in an old tire store, and packing the rain in the smell of your coat.

Mike and the band have been featured in Adobe & Teardrops, Gimme Country, AltCountry.NL, and elsewhere, and they've shared bills with Pearl Charles, Sadie Dupuis, Nat Baldwin (of Dirty Projectors), and many others.

We Need Your Love and Support :)

 

Clementine Was Right, Indie Rock, Alternative Rock, heartland rock, garden rock, sophomore album,  "Takes Tall Walks", fiction writer, poet, singer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist,, Mike Young,