Clogs
Clogs is a mostly instrumental project led by Bryce Dessner and Australia's Padma Newsome (both members of rock band The National). Clogs pre-dates The National and débuted with the highly melodic "Thom's Night Out" (Jul 2001, Brassland). Their latest album is "The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton" (Mar 2010, Brassland), which features contributions from The National's lead vocalist Matt Berninger, Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) and Sufjan Stevens.
The other three of their five widely acclaimed albums are: the experimentally polyphonic "Lullaby For Sue" (2003, Brassland), minimalist "Stick Music" (Aug 2004, Brassland) and the harmonic "Lantern" (Feb 2006, Brassland).
When Clogs formed they were an oddball classical ensemble in indie rock clothing. Today, however, they're at the forefront of a scene including friends in groups The Books, Rachel's, and Bell Orchestre.
Clogs are Newsome (viola/violin/melocica/voice/piano), Bryce Dessner (guitar/ukelele), Rachael Elliott (bassoon/melodica), and Thomas Kozumplik (percussion). They met in the late-90s while studying at the Yale School of Music. Newsome started his career as a concert violinist in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, before a six-year detour took him to an ashram in the remote region of New South Wales. He began composing in the '90s at the University of Adelaide, when he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship that brought him to America. Dessner is an established soloist, and veteran of groups including Bang on a Can All-Stars, which has given him in contact with major figures like Philip Glass and Terry Riley. Elliott is a proud Vermonter and active freelance musician. Kozumplik is a master percussionist familiar with most any style.
Clogs' 'classical' music is the result of a peculiar writing process more akin to a rock band or a jazz quartet. The members come to rehearsals with basic ideas that the group riffs on and develops in jam sessions and live performance. Newsome later arranges these ideas into elegant and complex musical narratives that meld and extend the ideas of minimalist, modernist, and romantic composers, adding sounds and melodies drawn from the folk music of India, the Jewish Diaspora, and everywhere else.
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