The Clientele Give 'Suburban Light' Expanded Reissue

BY Alex HudsonPublished Mar 4, 2014

The Clientele's debut full-length, 2000's Suburban Light, wasn't really a proper album at all, but rather a collection of the British indie pop band's formative singles. Still, it served a stellar introduction to the group's wispy ways, so it's no surprise that the compilation will be treated to an expanded reissue by Merge on May 13.

This reissue brings together the 13-song tracklist of the original UK version, along with 10 bonus cuts. It's either available as a two-CD set, or as a package with one vinyl LP and a CD. The bonus material includes a few covers, some rehearsals, B-sides and three unreleased tunes.

According to an announcement, all of the songs have been "restored from original analog tapes to sound warmer and a bit less like a batch of demos."

Frontman Alasdair MacLean reminisced about the collection, saying in a statement, "We drank then at this pub called the Queen's Head. I woke up the next day, completely hung over, and I went out to play football at this field near my house. It was an autumn day, the sound of 'As Night Is Falling' is exactly how I remember that day, because I wrote it after running around those fields. Suburban Light very much does remind me of the suburban place we did come from. It's quite poignant."

The reissue is available to pre-order here. Check out the expanded tracklist below and the revamped artwork above.

This is part of Merge's ongoing anniversary reissue series.

Suburban Light:

1. I Had to Say This

2. Rain

3. Reflections After Jane

4. We Could Walk Together

5. Monday's Rain

6. Joseph Cornell

7. An Hour Before the Light

8. (I Want You) More Than Ever

9. Saturday

10. Five Day Morning

11. Bicycles

12. As Night Is Falling

13. Lacewings

Bonus tracks:

14. Sarah's Prelude

15. 6am Morningside (7" previously released in Spain by Elefant Records, February 2000)

16. What Goes Up (7" previously released in UK by Pointy Records, June 1998)

17. From a Window (Previously released by Merge on U.S. version of Suburban Light, 2001)

18. Driving South (Previously released in U.S. by Merge on Fading Summer EP, 2001)

19. Porcelain (Portastudio version) (7" previously released in U.S. by Slumberland, 2001)

20. May Has Brought a Change in You

21. Monday's Rain (Portastudio version)

22. Tracey Had a Hard Day Sunday (Previously released in UK by Earworm Records, 2001)

23. Six Foot Drop (7" Previously released in U.S. by Drive in Records, 2001)

Latest Coverage