Clem Snide Announce First Studio Album In 5 Years

Clem Snide will release their new album Forever Just Beyond on March 27 via Ramseur Records/Thirty Tigers. Produced by Scott Avett, Eef Barzelay's stunning new album under the Clem Snide moniker may just be the most miraculous of them all.

Today they share the first single "Roger Ebert." Joined by Avett on harmonies, Barzelay spins the famed film critic's final words into a gorgeous meditation on the mysteries of life and death on the track, which, like much of the album, seeks comfort in the acceptance of the inevitable. Pre-save the album and get the first single "Roger Ebert" here: https://orcd.co/foreverjustbeyond

Listen to "Roger Ebert" below!

"The last ten years have been a rollercoaster of deep despair and amazing opportunities that somehow present themselves at the last possible second," says Barzelay. "That this record even exists, as far as I'm concerned, is a genuine miracle."

"About ten years ago, everything just seemed to fall apart," he explains. "The band bottomed out, my marriage was crumbling, I lost my house, and I had to declare bankruptcy. That started this process of ego death for me, where I realized the only way to survive would be to transcend myself and to try to find some kind of deeper, spiritual relationship with life and with being. Once I committed myself to that, miraculous things started to happen."

Some miracles were financial (a superfan in Spain, for instance, sent Barzelay an unsolicited thank-you-for-the-music donation that covered the exact amount he desperately owed his bankruptcy lawyer); other miracles were more intangible. Roughly four or five years ago, as Barzelay struggled with how and if to carry on, a fan sent him a video of Scott Avett singing a Clem Snide song in front of a massive audience. Shortly after that, another fan sent an interview in which Avett raved about Clem Snide's music. It seemed like a sign from the universe.

"I had just hit this low point where I realized I couldn't do it alone anymore," says Barzelay. "I passed along a little message and a new song I wrote to The Avett Brothers' manager, and Scott wrote me right back to say what a fan he was."

"I look up to Eef with total respect and admiration," adds Avett, "and I hope to survive like he survives: with total love for the new and the unknown. Eef's a crooner and an indie darling by sound and a mystic sage by depth. That's not common, but it's beautiful."

Rather than head into a traditional studio, the two decided to record the guts of the album on Avett's farm in North Carolina, where they converted Scott's painting space into a makeshift recording setup. They sourced a core band that included bassist Bill Reynolds (Band of Horses, Lissie) and drummer Mike Marsh (The Avett Brothers, Dashboard Confessional), and worked raw and loose to cut basic tracks live. Next, Barzelay headed to his adopted hometown of Nashville, TN, where he finished vocals and guitars and layered up additional parts from guests like Old Crow Medicine Show fiddler Ketch Secor and Avett Brothers cellist Joe Kwon. In the end, it was four long years between Avett and Barzelay's initial introduction and the completion of the album, but those lean times provided the fodder for some of Barzelay's strongest, most thought provoking writing to date.

Named for a William S. Borroughs character, Clem Snide first emerged from Boston as a three-piece in the early 1990's, and the group would go on to become a cult and critical favorite, picking up high profile fans from Bon Iver to Ben Folds over the course of three decades and more than a dozen studio albums. NPR Music highlighted the Israeli-born Barzelay as "the most underrated songwriter in the business today, with a sneakily firm grasp on poignancy and humor," while Rolling Stone hailed his songwriting as "soulful and incisive," and The New Yorker praised his music's "soothing melodies and candid wit."

In support of the new album, Clem Snide will tour this Spring with shows in Atlanta, New York City, Boston and more. See full list of tour dates below.

Forever Just Beyond tracklist:

1. Roger Ebert

2. Don't Bring No Ladder

3. Forever Just Beyond

4. The Stuff Of Us

5. Sorry Charlie

6. Easy

7. Emily

8. The True Shape Of Your Heart

9. The Ballad of Eef Barzelay

10. Denial

11. Some Ghost

Clem Snide Tour Dates:

Feb 7 - Salt Lake City, UT - Solo house show

Feb 12 - San Francisco, CA - Solo house show

Feb 15 - Seattle, WA - Solo house show

Feb 28 - Fairfield, CT - Solo house show

Mar 1 - Elizaville, NY - Solo house show

Mar 26 - Atlanta, GA - Eddie's Attic

Mar 28 - Wake Forest, NC - Wake Forest Listening Room

Apr 1 - New York, NY - City Vineyard

Apr 3 - Northampton, MA - Parlor Room

Apr 4 - Boston, MA - Haymarket Lounge at CW

Apr 7 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Café

Apr 8 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Tavern

Apr 9 - Columbus, OH - Rumba

Apr 10 - Lake Orion, MI - 20 Front Street

Apr 11 - Berwyn, IL - FitzGerald's

Tickets & Info: https://bnds.us/7ycl8z

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