JAMES JONATHAN CLANCY - Sprecato LP

Limited edition vinyl housed in gatefold sleeve.

Includes insert and art by Michelangelo Setola.

Highly recommended.

We've been loving this strange collection of (appropriately described) "alien cowboy" laments. Another great release from one of our favourite labels (Maple Death) and sure to feature among 2024's best (though likely to entirely fly under the radar of most...)

First album in 7 years from the Maple Death Records founder and the first under his birth name following previous ensembles His Clancyness (Fat Cat, Maple Death) and Brutal Birthday (Total Punk, Improved Sequence).

In the interim between those projects and this latest, ‘Sprecato’, Clancy has refined and honed his vision - steadily and carefully drawing from a host of disparate influences to create a new kind of singer-songwriter album that bridges the divide between cosmic loner-folk, proto-ambient music, and the epic, intricately arranged world of vintage Italian soundtrack music.

For ‘Sprecato’, Clancy has assembled a transnational cast of renowned guest collaborators; including Stefano Pilia (co-producer/guitar/modular/synths/bass), Andrea Belfi (drums), Enrico Gabrielli (flutes, PJ Harvey/Calibro 35), Francesca Bono (piano, Bono/Burattini) —while the core of the band features Dominique Vaccaro (guitars, J.H. Guraj), Andrea De Franco (synths, Fera) and Kyle Knapp (sax, Cindy Lee/Deliluh).

While the band is both loping and epic - with shades of Pentangle’s Terry Cox in the live drumming in particular - there’s a new emotional depth and clarity to Clancy’s vocals here, almost as if there’d been some scenario where Scott Walker had helmed a record for the classic DIY ambient label, Palace of Lights, - while tracks like “Milk of Dreams” and “Had It All” vibrate on some kind of massive, Piero Umiliani type frequency.