BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Find Local//findlocal.community//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT UID:8d02cd5f-47e4-4802-94fe-aa0688cafb3c@findlocal.community DTSTAMP:20261026T232144Z DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20270109 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20270110 SUMMARY:Tara Clerkin Trio DESCRIPTION:Somewhere Good is the first new music from the Bristol three- piece – Tara Clerkin\, Sunny Joe Paradisos\, and Patrick Benjamin – sinc e their acclaimed 2023 mini album\, On The Turning Ground. Described by Pitchfork as an “amble through blissful psych-pop and washed-out breakbe ats\, harpsichord interludes and dubby balladry”\, it’s already on its f ourth repress\, as are previous releases In Spring and the 2019 self-tit led debut. Musician Ryan Davis (of Ryan Davis and the Roundhouse Band) w as inspired to write about the album: If – in some parallel universe (or perhaps a not-so-distant-future version of the one we’re already senten ced to living in) – the evil overloads of artificial intelligence were a ctually successful in their attempts to create convincingly enjoyable “o riginal music\,” more specifically tasked with wholly encapsulating my o wn personal tastes by data-chugging some cocktail of – oh\, I don’t know – the posters on my wall\, the records in my “most listened to” pile\, the mixtapes I made for others\, intensive physical scans of my auditory cortex\, amygdala\, hippocampus\, heart strings\, whatever else they ha ve splayed out on their autopsy table with the intention of generating o ne all-encompassing “perfect band” based on the fruitful sum of their fi ndings – that band\, for me\, would be (or would at least sound exactly like) the Tara Clerkin Trio. It is\, quite simply\, without exception\, the music I wish to hear. Formed in Bristol UK (where none of them are f rom yet all of whom are deeply engrained) in 2020\, the Tara Clerkin Tri o – as it somewhat democratically exists today\, despite the singular au thority implied by its name – consists of the titular Tara Clerkin\, her partner Sunny Joe Paradisos\, and Sunny’s brother\, Patrick Benjamin. I ’ll confess\, I don’t know what their respective roles are within the op eration and there’s only a very small part of me that cares to learn\, a s one of my favorite qualities in an objective listening experience is t he mystery of who is playing what\, which sounds are “authentic” versus synthesized\, which chunks are performed “live” in a room together versu s meticulously Frankenstein’ed from measure to measure\, or how exactly the overall sound is so (seemingly) effortlessly achieved. Though\, I su spect\, if and when I do witness a live performance by this band at any point\, my enjoyment of the music will not be lost in my better understa nding of it. With two extraordinary mini-albums – In Spring (2021) and O n The Turning Ground (2023) – making a splash on London’s formidable Wor ld of Echo label in wake of their self-titled 2020 debut\, this upcoming Somewhere Good LP is\, in many ways\, the band’s most realised work. In running their usual gauntlet of idiosyncratic (*an overused adjective f or which here there is regrettably no sufficient alternative) approaches \, Clerkin & co. color in and outside of compositional lines over the co urse of 40+ celebratory minutes – never wallowing\, despite inherently s omber subject matters of self-defeat\, disease\, displacement\, restless ness\, gentrification – allowing their arrangements and improvisations a mple space and time to situate\, stretch out\, breathe\, cross-pollinate \, and ultimately take deeper hold on the listener’s imagination – all w hile somehow sounding more like themselves than ever before. Of course\, there are traceable influences herein\, if one felt that such compariso ns were necessary to properly examine and enjoy this music (they aren’t) … Being the big dumb American from the small boring town that I am\, cor nfed on ‘90s alternative radio with the enchantingly exotic sounds of Ma xinquaye and Mezzanine emanating from my chunky tube television\, I can’ t help but to make a blatantly obvious reference to a “Bristol sound”\, ie the whole trip-hop trip\, the pastoral crooning over the suggestive u rban grime of cracked electro/piano treatments\, the digitally-yet-primi tively reconstructed James Bond soundtrack string-beats\, etc.. But the Tara Clerkin Trio is so infinitely much more than that. There are elemen ts of avant-pop\, modern classical\, kraut-folk\, audio verité\, dare I say indie rock (and not of the beer guzzling\, masturbatory fuzz-flex va riety but perhaps more like a Trish Keenan-fronted Faust\, Adrian Sherwo od at the mixing desk of If You’re Feeling Sinister\, or – in expanding on our alternate reality – a world in which High Llamas cut a full-lengt h for Warp Records with Andrew Weatherall on coffee duty). The hazy\, un mappable skyline-mirage of droning harmonium\, upright bass\, peculiarly accentuated wind instruments\, acoustic guitar\, hushed yet literally m ighty keys combine to hypnotizing effect. The band may make underlying n ods to jazz\, sure\, but it’s not appropriation\, it’s that they have th e actual chops to build it out. Beneath the janky samples and oddball pe rcussive embellishment lies actually great drumming. Beyond the manipula ted vocal witchery and woefully reflective plain-spoke moments are Tara’ s subtly inspired melodies\, sung with what might honestly be the glue t o the whole crazy equation. A calming consistency throughout the otherwi se unpredictably dynamic\, boldly intuitive\, uniquely British explorati on of this (their own) universe in song. – Ryan Davis (Chicago\, Februar y 2026) This will be a standing show. We have a nice bar with wine\, bee r\, cider\, soft drinks\, snacks and always free water. If you need spec ial assistance\, please do contact us at boxoffice@artscenterlive.org or 919.929.2787 and we’ll be sure to accommodate you as best as we can.\n\ nMore info: https://artscenterlive.org/january-9th-tara-clerkin-trio/\n\ nhttps://findlocal.community/event/8d02cd5f-47e4-4802-94fe-aa0688cafb3c LOCATION:The ArtsCenter\, 400 Roberson Street\, Carrboro\, NC 27510 URL:https://findlocal.community/event/8d02cd5f-47e4-4802-94fe-aa0688cafb3 c STATUS:CONFIRMED SEQUENCE:0 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR