Clique - Burden Piece (Topshelf Records) 2016
8
Hailing from Philadelphia, Clique’s sophomore effort is a stellar and bright gem, another awesome ride into this current indie-emo-alternative revival. Burden Piece is a straightforward and honest statement. PJ Carroll’s voice sounds lazy, but tremendously passionate, this sort of slackness is all over the album, making it even more delicious and beautiful. Somewhere between Modern Baseball’s emotional catharsis, Pedro The Lion storytelling songwriting and Radiohead’s The Bends cerebral melodic esque, Burden Piece is a damn good effort that goes beyond genres, if somehow you think adulthood is just a path into something brighter, think again. Thematically heavy, we can’t ignore songs like “Top Field” (“Make the piggy work for his paycheck”), “Wishful Thinking” and “Boundaries”, because they’re so damn easy to relate with. I’m not sure if these dudes know that they have made something quite special, the class of 2016 is really making a statement here.