The Clientele – Music For The Age Of Miracles

Quality of the packaging 4 stars
Quality of sound pressing 4 stars

Lovely record; one of their best, I think. But those of you who find the Merge pressing troublesome should get the European pressing from Tapete Records (Germany): clean and warm sound, no pops or noise whatsoever. I got mine directly from the label.

The reviews I have read of this LP are a bit pedantic and trying really hard to somehow pretend this is a departure from the Clientele's signature rainy-day baroque sound they've peddled post 'Strange Geometry' (as opposed to the etiolated lo-fi brilliance of their rainy-day-park bench 60's anthems of the Violet Hour, and to a lesser extent, the ornate avant-pop of Strange Geometry), where I find this new LP a logical extension of Bonfires on the Heath, and, if anything, it's a bit more like their older work in many more ways than Minotaur or the The Night a Forest Grew EP. The production is crisp and the songwriting strong, and to me this is welcome LP from one of my all-time favorite bands and fits nicely into their incredible catalogue. The early singles will always ring as my favorites, but every record has been a treat and after 3 listens in 2 days, I can say this will be a contender for record of the year for sure.

anybody have any issues with this pressing? my copy has a ton of surface noise / pops from the start (not fixed by cleaning).