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The Wild Grips

by Kristin McClement

supported by
Martyn Moss
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Martyn Moss a record that seems to resonate with every atom in my body. i think it is absolutely perfect. Favorite track: The Wild Grips.
Ioannis Ntanos
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Ioannis Ntanos So beautiful....so close to my darker nights. So thank you.... Favorite track: Blackfin Gulls.
Enzo Paolo Baranelli
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Enzo Paolo Baranelli What a great album! Just returned on bandcamp for this one. The CD, signed and with a kind handwritten note, arrived within 7 days from UK.. She's nice, kind and she really cares.... buy it. It counts! Favorite track: No End To The Drum.
Ian Carroll
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Ian Carroll Beautiful....haunting...some really clever percussion too, so in both regards shares something with Nina Nastasia's work, in particular "You Follow Me" with The Dirty Three's Jim White on percussion duty. ninanastasia.bandcamp.com/album/you-follow-me

Kristin is part of www.willkommenrecords.co.uk a Brighton, UK based musical collective that is well worth following. Favorite track: Giant No Good.
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1.
Blackfin Gulls Would you take hold of a shoal Of blackfins swaying In time with your breath, the inner current That brought your body to the shore The marks we made Left a maze on the blonde beach How the gulls look sideways From their highways Metronomes keep a candid beat While harmony hangs on our every word I’ve coughed for years in the dust of our earth Now the sand finds a crack and retracts The marks we make Will soon wash away How the gulls look sideways From their highways Descend, speak of what you’ve seen Descend, we are listening Descend So show me how to stand again Yours was a call I could not ignore Pulled from the depths, we were pulled by our necks To lie beached, our eyes wide and wanting The marks we make Will soon wash away How the gulls look sideways From their highways
2.
No End To The Drum We went shining torches down tunnels It is you I follow through the thick of it all In the absence of an exit A clear way out When we stopped It was a heavenly thing you said When we stopped What a heavenly thing to say In the absence of an exit A clear way out Expecting the incision Through the very centre of my being In the absence of an exit A clear way out Theo, Theo, Theo, Theo Obsession bring on the visions I can't let go of your beckoning image The lesion is so deep I can barely see Caught you leaning Through the window of my sleeping Caught you leaning From whom have you gone missing? The lesion is so deep I can barely see I watch you migrate Transforming in mid air Take with you My faith and fortune And all that keeps me here The lesion is so deep You must be part of me
3.
Giant No Good There he stood A giant up to no good A weathered grin Sat on his elephant skin I am not afraid I know my fate And there’s no need For an up tight fist fight way out of this When you live alone Folklore is alive in the corners of night In your home And prayer might reach a mighty force It’s no use to me now It’s no use to me at all It’s no use to me now It’s no use to me at all So may the moon rattle inside its glow Let go of a spark A starling swooping low And may this roof rise Rise to let light in All damp and hushed now She is the brightest thing
4.
Hoax Of A Man River carries water Hoax of a man I tried to befriend him Took the bridge’s legs Legs they have no more Broke the lily heads Heads they have no more Deer, leave the lowlands Bury the young In your thick coats River comes again And so the bridges bend Hollows out every tree Throws about every fish Mother, where to now? Our crops are gone Our cattle drowned One by one we lie down And one by one we call out One by one the Lord collects His children from floating beds
5.
Hope’s Departure I have lost hope, she left the other day To where I don’t know, to whom I can’t say I followed a trail, small feet in the dirt I knew they were hers by how they curved inward Down through the valley of isolation I clung to the vines of desolation I got dealt a bad deal, I got thorns in my heel My eyes will tell you all that I feel I am pure and I care for virtue No wolves can claim this kind of value Still I sense their stare, a soiled glare From dens dangerously inviting Dear dark wolves Can I come in? Cold has taken its hold on everything Dear dogs of burden Can I lie down? Just for a short while Let me lie on the ground Dear dark world Can I come in? Cold has taken its hold on everything Dear dogs of burden Can I lie down? Just for a short while Let me lie on the ground
6.
Mouthful Of Shells Oh I am gone, it was long ago That I gave up the language I owned Where to now? Where to now? With a mouthful of shells That whistle and hum A mouthful of shells That whistle and hum How I long for the chase We were quicker then I sang to myself While you coloured in Corners of things So that I may see them La la da da da da da We have known the animal urge The spark between sea and earth The fight and flight The hunt and hurt Of asking when you should be quiet Oh don’t ask when you should be quiet I still long for the chase We were kinder then I sang to myself While you coloured in Corners of things So that I may see them
7.
Drink Waltz 06:51
Drink Waltz There on the hills you’ll hear A sound that is never fair On any ear A voice without clarity A song without a melody Is in the air It whips the slopes according to A map that forms the whole year through It knows not me and knows not you We go not where the ground is steep Drink, drink, won’t you drink with me In the house we filled so lovingly Waltz, waltz, waltz, won’t you waltz with me In the clothes that hold us so tenderly I stitched a curtain to hide the swell Of clouds with anchors dropping out And dropping down You stood etched against The cloth, the stitch, my needle my thread Is loosening And the map turns back on itself Draws a line that ties us both And arm in arm I see us go Oh my, oh I Am overwhelmed, I am overwhelmed By the imagery, by the imagery Drink, drink, won’t you drink with me In the house we filled so lovingly Waltz, waltz, waltz, won’t you waltz with me In the clothes that hold us so tenderly
8.
Planks 04:19
Planks Take me in your arms dear Lord Take me if you will On the day the wind stands still There’ll be nothing more To shape to mould to house my thoughts Carry me across The endless valley’s sunken brow I’ve learnt to live with loss Thunder brings the shepherds home To line their rooms with wool And how they watch the wind outside There’s life out there still Falcon claw and forest paw They are the new world’s lambs And you who sleep so well at night Care not for their demands On the day the wind stands still Who will hold my hand? Will there be a grieving man Who hammers down the planks?
9.
The Wild Grips The wild grips again And I am no one at last Mankind disappears And up comes the earth And I am no one at last And in being no one You don’t have to answer You can leave what you care for And run The wild grips again And it holds on like no one can How do I know which Is the greater good? The greater good For in being no one I found someone Caught in the rubble Of a life ending And you were the first And the only one I would hold you forever If you hold on to The living The living The living The living
10.
Karoo 00:57

about

The Wild Grips refers to our wild nature. Hidden behind the glance of every stranger lies the struggle to make sense of these troubling times. What can we pull from the rubble of our modern world?

Produced and engineered by Christian Hardy of The Leisure Society, The Wild Grips is a wide-eyed rendering of modern folk song where the acoustic and the electronic rub alongside.

credits

released February 23, 2015

Kristin McClement – Voice, Nylon & Electric Guitars & Piano
Becca Mears – Cello & Voice
Thomas Heather – Drums, Percussion & Voice
Christian Hardy – Piano, Synth, Electric Bass, Banjo, Percussion & Voice

Additional Musicians:
Christopher Cundy – Bass Clarinet (tracks 1,2,3,6)
Marcus Hamblett – Double Bass (tracks 6,7)
Emma Kraemer – Violin (tracks 4,6,7,9)
Tom Leaper – Saxophone & Tenor Saxophone (tracks 1,3)
Mike Siddell – Violin (tracks 3,8)
Helen Whitaker – Flute (track 3)
Danny Green and Daniel Harding – Voices (track 7)

All songs written by Kristin McClement
Arrangements by Kristin McClement, Becca Mears, Thomas Heather & Christian Hardy
Recorded by Christian Hardy, Jon Griffin & Kristin McClement
In London, Brighton, Barcombe, Lewes & Cheltenham
Produced & Mixed by Christian Hardy
Mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Mastering

Cover photograph by Holly Jarvis,
Other photographs by Leoné Meyer & Kristin McClement

Infinite thanks and love to all our friends and families who have helped to make us, and this record possible.

Released via WIllkommen Records: www.willkommenrecords.co.uk

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Kristin McClement Brighton, UK

Kristin's music is born of two separate worlds; the vast shapeshifting landscape of her childhood South Africa engraved with the melancholic romance of old England's sacred woodland, rivers and valleys.

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