WL//WH Video Of The Day: CLARENCE “Numb”

WL//WH Video Of The Day  clarence

Hailing from the same constellation of independent French labels associated with Hugo Carmouze‘s Opinion and Cosmopaark, which we both covered extensively last year, come the Bordeaux-based Dreamgaze four-piece clarence, fresh from the Howlin Banana Records’ CD repress of the band’s 2024 debut album “Smudge”, originally released in digital format, last September, by the Bordelaise imprint Flippin’ Freaks.

The foursome treads early 90s UK reflective Shoegaze realms through a fretwork of shimmery, at times noisy, cloudy sheets of effected guitars, re-elaborated with uncommon freshness and bewitching melodic sensibilities. 

Approaching the end of an early 2025 tour, clarence drops a music video, directed by Léo Filsjean and Alice Zapata with the help of Evan Leconte, for the opening LP track “Numb.”

Songwriter Clarisse Cante writes about the world around her in the privacy of her young adult bedroom through a lens of disillusionment. In Numb she explores a painful intimate experience that made her want to stop feeling.

A slow and hazy song interspersed with leaden bursts of loud energy, “Numb” weaves vibrant introspective guitar riffs through the tumultuous rising mists from crashing cymbals laced with hard-hitting, shuffling drum beats and heavy grinding bass throbs, while penetrating yet withdrawn vocals struggle to radiate through the intense sways of reverb-laden distortion.

The symbolic visuals by Léo Filsjean and Alice Zapata, with the help of Evan Leconte, showcase clarence performing Numb on a warm lamp-lit, carpet-laid stage. The vision builds a dreamy depth by blending translucent layers of starry and strobing overlays with creative shifts in motion, creating a psychedelic mood in sync with the soundtrack.

clarence will play, tonight, January 25, at ParisLa Pointe Lafayette with Ligne Rouge.

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