MacLean and Hornsey began collaborating musically while still in school, after MacLean saw that Hornsey had written the name of the band Felt on his pencil case. The band formed in 1991, with the current lineup along with Innes Phillips, who shared singing and songwriting duties with MacLean. The band recorded an album's worth of material but failed to get any label interest. Innes left the band (and would go on to found The Relict); the rest of the group re-formed in 1997, and they released a number of singles that were eventually collected on Suburban Light (2000). The Violet Hour (2003) was their first album proper, which again saw great acclaim, but, as yet, little commercial success. August 2005 saw the release of their second full album, Strange Geometry. Draisey joined the band in 2006 just in time for band's second tour of the States.
The band is more successful in America, where they are signed to Merge Records, home of bands such as Lambchop and Spoon, than in their native Britain.
Their music is noted for its reverb-rich production and MacLean's distinctive breathy vocals and jangly guitar playing. Their lyrics take a strong inspiration from surrealist literature and art from the early 20th century. "We Could Walk Together" quotes a line ("like a silver ring thrown into the flood of my heart") from a 1928 poem by French surrealist Joe Bousquet; the song "What Goes Up" quotes the poem "Stupidity Street" by Ralph Hodgson in its entirety.
The song "I Can't Seem To Make You Mine" from their album "Strange Geometry" is used in the movie "The Lake House" (2006).
Their album 'God Save The Clientele' was released on May 8th 2007. 'Bonfires on the Heath' followed in 2009, and 'Minotaur' in 2010. Their last one, 'Music For The Age Of Miracles' was released on september 22th.
http://www.theclientele.co.uk/
When I Came Home From The Party
The Clientele Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Everything had changed
The city was beside itself
Just one inch away
Alright, my tongue gets split my hands are gloved
I just can't quite shake it off
I just can't quite shake it off
I just can't quite shake it off
When I came home from the movies
Through each ten and nine
The city was in retriform
For the twenty-second time
All night they haunted in Middleston
All the summoned faces
Marching through the crowd
All the summond faces
Marching through the crowd
All that day, and all that night
Our dead friends walked into the streets
Their faces in the doorways
Like a mirror to your photographs
They mingled with the crowds until
The living and the dead became each other
The Clientele's song "When I Came Home From the Party" is a hauntingly beautiful piece that delves into the concept of reality and its limitations. The first verse sets the scene perfectly, as we experience the aftermath of a party, where everything has seemingly changed. The city itself seems to be on the brink of something, one inch away from crossing a threshold. This creates a sense of unease, as if the world has shifted and our protagonist is unsure of his place in it.
The second verse is even more surreal, as all the dead friends seem to come back to life and walk the streets. They are almost like ghosts, fleeting in and out of doorways like a reflection, yet they mingle with the living crowd until they become one and the same. There is a sense of uncertainty in this world, where nothing is as it seems and boundaries are blurred. The verse ends with the words "the living and the dead became each other," which sums up the surreal experience in a poetic and thought-provoking way.
Line by Line Meaning
When I came home from the party
The singer returned home after attending a party.
Everything had changed
The singer noticed that something significant had altered since they left.
The city was beside itself
Something disrupted the city, causing an intense reaction.
Just one inch away
The situation was close to spiraling out of control.
Alright, my tongue gets split my hands are gloved
The artist is struggling to articulate their thoughts, perhaps due to fear or anxiety.
I just can't quite shake it off
The events of the party are lingering in the singer's mind.
When I came home from the movies
The singer returned home after watching a film.
Through each ten and nine
An unspecified amount of time passed.
The city was in retriform
The city was transformed beyond recognition.
For the twenty-second time
This has happened before, and it keeps happening.
All night they haunted in Middleston
People, or perhaps spirits, were causing chaos in a specific location.
All the summoned faces
The people involved were brought together for a specific purpose.
Marching through the crowd
The group was moving in unison, making a deliberate impact.
All that day, and all that night
The events described in this section continued for a prolonged period.
Our dead friends walked into the streets
The singer encounters people who have passed away, now resurrected.
Their faces in the doorways
The undead were visible to others and not just the artist.
Like a mirror to your photographs
The faces were similar to how the artist remembers them.
They mingled with the crowds until
The undead were able to blend in and move among the living without being noticed.
The living and the dead became each other
The boundaries between the living and the dead were blurred, perhaps indicating that death is not an end.
Contributed by Harper L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.