The name Kristin McClement should conjure up fond memories for anyone who has been a long-term follower of the Brighton Alternative Music Scene. Her debut album ‘The Wild Grips’, released on Brighton’s Willkommen label, is now more than a decade old but was widely acclaimed at the time of its release, and deservedly so. KLOF Mag referred to its “introspective” nature and “its immense lyrical themes” and “spacious sound”.
- “A debut album of gravitas and maturity which should secure her reputation as a songwriter and musician of depth and character” (KLOF Mag)
This writer interviewed McClement for Brighton Source around the time of her debut, and suffice to say that she was not then and has never been like other artists, with a poetic spirit and depth that reflects the outlook of someone who looks on the world from somewhere high above, very much carving their own singular path and very much at their own pace.
There had been few signals that Kristin was still making music until earlier this year, when her beautiful single ‘The Fisherman’ emerged. It’s an incredible song – musically dark and brooding, with poignant lyrics such as “Some traits we will lose / And others we will keep / But Lord there is something missing / Missing in me”.
It was a sign that McClement was back, and back on track, inhabiting a world that seems uniquely her own. Listen below.
The new album is called ‘Chalk From The Downs, Iron From My Blood’ and if that suggests a continuation of the dark-folk tone of the debut, that would be right. It is clearly deeply rooted in the folk traditions of the Sussex countryside, where McClement has been living, with a similar deep introspection to the debut.
The album title comes from her song ‘Heroine’ a stunning meditation on personal strength and resilience, as one might anticipate from an album a decade in the making. Other tracks include the gorgeously seductive horror story of ‘Love Doesn’t Have To Come At Such A Price’ and the trance-like ‘Volcanic You And I’, which comes across like Kate Bush on Xanax with a strong sensual lyric and resonant accompaniment.
On the album, Kristin is once again accompanied by the wonderful Jools Owen, her long-term musical collaborator, as well as such stalwarts of the Willkommen collective such as Marcus Hamblett and Emma Gatrill, and Hannah Moule of the Moulettes. The music is a gorgeously rich concoction that conjures up visions of a difficult walk through a tangled damp woodland, dense in leaves and branches, hard to pass through but so rewarding when you do. Kristin herself describes it as “melancholic and ethereal folk music” transporting the listener to a sacred place – one that is “magical, ancient and grounded in nature”.
The album release show at the intimate Rose Hill venue in Brighton will be suitably moody and contemplative but should be something very special.
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Kristin McClement plays the Rose Hill on Friday 16th October, with support from Chris Cundy. Tickets are here.
Words by Jon Southcoasting
