With 2020 marking a decade into their musical careers The Dirty Clergy vacillates between shoegaze-esque ruminations on love and struggle and more straightforward garage numbers that surge into ecstatic cacophony all accented by eerily laconic vocals, The Alabama-based trio (featuring vocalist/guitarist Brian Manasco, bassist Ky Carter and drummer Cody Moorehead) are looking to expand their already respectable discography with their upcoming full-length, the aptly titled In Waves, which is due out May 22nd on Cornelius Chapel Records.
The 12-song collection represents the band’s second collaboration with producer Les Nuby (Verbena, Holiday Gunfire and co-owner of Ol’ Elegante Studio in Birmingham), who had engineered the Clergy’s previous album, 2016’s Rattlesnake, a release which would go on to be nominated for “Indie/Alt Album of the Year’ at the 2016 Independent Music Awards, get played on LA’s legendary KROQ station and Alice Cooper’s Nights with Alice Cooper, receive multiple accolades from AL. com and land the band two placements for the songs “Decades” and “Strange Love” on the tenth season of SHOWTIME’s Shameless.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the video for “Lucy”, one of the standout tracks on the new album. Featuring a downtrodden woman suffering from depression, the song brings to mind the ethereal folk rock of acts like the Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver. The song begins with minimal instrumentation of piano and guitar before the band layers on bass and drums to create a more dramatic sound that perfectly complements the story within the lyrics. The video is also a reminder of the plague of depression in our society and the fact that you can never fully know what someone else is going through, especially as we continue to close ourselves our. Through their cathartic rock sound, the band touches on the emotional power of human connections and support.
The Dirty Clergy’s singer/songwriter/guitarist Brian Manasco explains the inspiration behind the song:
“The idea for the song ‘Lucy’ came to me while I was watching a program on television. It was about Evelyn McHale. Her story is also referred to as ‘The Most Beautiful Suicide.’ I thought it was tragic, but interesting because no one knew why. She gave vague reasons, but they were her reasons.
I took that story and created my own with ‘Lucy.’ She was a new person to the city, worked at a small restaurant, suffered from depression. She wanted to be happy, she tried, she had a friend that she tried to call, but the call was missed. She had an angry customer at work that day. It all ended up being too much at that time, that night.
Be nice to people. Everyone has their issues and they don’t need someone else coming along making them worse. Speak to people, say hi even if you don’t know them. Acknowledge them. Call the hotline, reach out to someone, family, friends, anyone – even the band. The world is a better place with you in it.”
WATCH:
The Dirty Clergy will release In Waves on digital platforms and CD on May 22nd as one of the newest signings of Birmingham’s Cornelius Chapel Records.
