available light

AVAILABLE LIGHT REVIEWS

CMJ: New Music Report

If not shocking, Allen Clapp's musical transition on Available Light is at least likely to raise some eyebrows. The Orange Peels leader has taken time off from jangling and power popping to record a tribute to solo artists like Elton John and Todd Rundgren. Available Light is an easy-like-Sunday-morning flashback to early-'70s AM fare. It's such an unassuming record that The Virgin Suicides' bitchy Mrs. Lisbon probably wouldn't have had the heart to burn it when she ravaged Lux's collection. What separates this record from run-of-the-mill adult contemporary schlock is Clapp's striking musicianship (he played every single instrument on the album), textured production and truly accomplished songwriting. "High Above the Earth" is heady psychedelia that's true to its name, blasting off when a time signature change ushers in the chorus. Clapp's co-star is his Fender Rhodes, which adds bounce to just about almost every track. Though he has a funny way of showing it, Clapp's Available Light is seeping ideas. He succeeds most in making the move toward soft rock seem as ballsy as hell.

--Richard M. Juzwiak

Shout magazine (New York)

An album-length encomium to Elton John complete with a solarized cover photo of an Eltonian acolyte, Available Light is much more than an honorary tip of the cap to the artist formerly known as Reginald Kenneth Dwight. Transferring the power pop of his Orange Peels past to the effet, easy listening anthems we unwittingly start swaying to while strolling through the mall, Clapp cuts a record that bubbles over with synthesized strings and shimmering Fender Rhodes reverberations -- an AM Gold comp covered by the Pet Shop Boys, Holiday, Lightning Seeds and the Ocean Blue.

--Shailesh. S. Rao

Amplifier magazine

Allen Clapp, the brains behind San Francisco's revered indie pop band the Orange Peels, has ventured out on his own again with his second full-length solo release. Laced with synthesizerrs, strings and Clapp's reverb-soaked vocals, Available Light is a tapestry of orchestral pop, with the multifaceted Clapp playing every instrument himself. Stand-out tracks include the hypnotic "Just Like Yesterday" and the bouncy "While There's Still Time," a virtual reprise of the Orange Peels' confection "All the World Could Pass Me By." While the dreamy, lavish orchestral sounds of Available Light may beg for simplicity at times, there's no denying Clapp's skills as an accomplished songwriter and musical arranger.

--Jeff Shelton

LA Weekly

Allen Clapp at the Knitting Factory: Now that bonehead rocker Andrew W.K. has ridden his next-big-thing raves all the way to an overbearing Coors Light campaign, America is in desperate need of some thoughtful, melodic pop music to cleanse the foul aftertaste of sports-metal from its aural palate. Orange Peels leader Allen Clapp has heroically answered the call with Available Light, a stunning solo meditation on growing up, falling in love and grappling with adulthood under the watchful eye of the warm California sun. Comparisons to early Elton John and Todd Rundgren are certainly apt, but there's also a little Gary "Dream Weaver" Wright in the Fender Rhodes and synthetic strings of "High Above the Earth" and "Open Door," and a tangy touch of Wings in the nagging keyboard hook of "Beautiful/Drop Me a Line." Clapp's '70s AM radio-damaged music might never make it into a beer commercial, but it'll definitely quench your thirst for something sweet and soulful.

--Dan Epstein

High Bias

Available Light, the second solo album from Orange Peels leader Allen Clapp, was made in the new millennium but sounds like an artifact from the 70s. Clapp couches his unabashedly soft pop melodies in layers of lush electric pianos, analog synthesizers, 12-string and acoustic guitars and a light rhythm section, all played by himself. With searchingly romantic lyrics and an amiable tenor voice, Clapp sounds like Something/Anything?-era Todd Rundgren in a particularly mellow mood. Though the songs wouldn't offend your prudish grandmother, it's not because Clapp is a wimp, it's simply that he writes the kind of pretty tunes that appeal to a wide audience&emdash;without pandering, no less. Piano-led pop nuggets like "So Right" and "Not Gonna Fake It" recall the best of Rundgren, Emitt Rhodes or even Ben Folds Five, while the cosmically-inclined "High Above the Earth" sounds like Gary Wright if he'd had real talent. "Whenever We're Together" (which gets reprised with a chorus of "la la la's" at the end), "Just Like Yesterday" and "Big Bright Shiny Yellow Sun" are simply soft pop as it ought to be made. Clapp's canny use of synthesized strings creates a sofa on which his creations comfortably lounge, but the wistfulness and sense of yearning in his performances prevent the songs from dissolving into the kind of fluff that feels good against your skin for the first five minutes but then suddenly starts to irritate the hell out of your pores. In other words, Available Light is sweet but not saccharine, twee but not sickening, light but not diet. Allen Clapp will satisfy your sweet tooth without making it hurt.

--Michael Toland

POPISM

"Whenever We're Together" (CD-EP, BUS STOP)
Throughout the nineties Allen Clapp has been exploring the wonders of a pop song, with his Orchestra and later with The Orange Peels, and this EP is just a snippet of his solo release, "Available light", probably his best offering to date. Since the title song is the only one here to be taken from the album, considering the "B-sides", it seems that he had a hell of a job deciding which ones to be left off it. Listening to these tracks is an incredible experience, because it makes your imagination run wild, visualising the most unexpected musical collaborations. Most of the time, the sound recalls the early seventies Rundgren-geneering, but it's the other side of the desk that's busy. "Whenever we're together" is something that J.Mascis would've come up with, had he continued with the stuff he's written for the "Grace of my heart" soundtrack, "Sad September", with it's melodic "wilsonisms" and despite the autumnly title, would've fitted perfectly on any original Californian 6Ts sunshine-harmony concept, and the third song, called "Night falls", sounds kinda like The Pearlfishers' take on an early Neil Young melody. If you're into this kind of pop sophistication, I'm sure you'll have "Available light" even before the EP ends.

--Goran Obradovic




AVAILABLE LIGHT April 2002, March Records Perhaps Allen's most ambitious project to date, "Available Light" is a solo album in the classic sense. Handling production and engineering duties and playing every instrument on the record, Clapp presents an updated vision of the soft rock revolution.
	AVAILABLE LIGHT REVIEWS CMJ: New Music Report If not shocking, Allen Clapp's musical transition on Available Light is at least likely to raise some eyebrows. The Orange Peels leader has taken time off from jangling and power popping to record a tribute to solo artists like Elton John and Todd Rundgren. Available Light is an easy-like-Sunday-morning flashback to early-'70s AM fare. It's such an unassuming record that The Virgin Suicides' bitchy Mrs. Lisbon probably wouldn't have had the heart to burn it when she ravaged Lux's collection. What separates this record from run-of-the-mill adult contemporary schlock is Clapp's striking musicianship (he played every single instrument on the album), textured production and truly accomplished songwriting. "High Above the Earth" is heady psychedelia that's true to its name, blasting off when a time signature change ushers in the chorus. Clapp's co-star is his Fender Rhodes, which adds bounce to just about almost every track. Though he has a funny way of showing it, Clapp's Available Light is seeping ideas. He succeeds most in making the move toward soft rock seem as ballsy as hell. --Richard M. Juzwiak Shout magazine (New York) An album-length encomium to Elton John complete with a solarized cover photo of an Eltonian acolyte, Available Light is much more than an honorary tip of the cap to the artist formerly known as Reginald Kenneth Dwight. Transferring the power pop of his Orange Peels past to the effet, easy listening anthems we unwittingly start swaying to while strolling through the mall, Clapp cuts a record that bubbles over with synthesized strings and shimmering Fender Rhodes reverberations -- an AM Gold comp covered by the Pet Shop Boys, Holiday, Lightning Seeds and the Ocean Blue. --Shailesh. S. Rao Amplifier magazine Allen Clapp, the brains behind San Francisco's revered indie pop band the Orange Peels, has ventured out on his own again with his second full-length solo release. Laced with synthesizerrs, strings and Clapp's reverb-soaked vocals, Available Light is a tapestry of orchestral pop, with the multifaceted Clapp playing every instrument himself. Stand-out tracks include the hypnotic "Just Like Yesterday" and the bouncy "While There's Still Time," a virtual reprise of the Orange Peels' confection "All the World Could Pass Me By." While the dreamy, lavish orchestral sounds of Available Light may beg for simplicity at times, there's no denying Clapp's skills as an accomplished songwriter and musical arranger. --Jeff Shelton LA Weekly Allen Clapp at the Knitting Factory: Now that bonehead rocker Andrew W.K. has ridden his next-big-thing raves all the way to an overbearing Coors Light campaign, America is in desperate need of some thoughtful, melodic pop music to cleanse the foul aftertaste of sports-metal from its aural palate. Orange Peels leader Allen Clapp has heroically answered the call with Available Light, a stunning solo meditation on growing up, falling in love and grappling with adulthood under the watchful eye of the warm California sun. Comparisons to early Elton John and Todd Rundgren are certainly apt, but there's also a little Gary "Dream Weaver" Wright in the Fender Rhodes and synthetic strings of "High Above the Earth" and "Open Door," and a tangy touch of Wings in the nagging keyboard hook of "Beautiful/Drop Me a Line." Clapp's '70s AM radio-damaged music might never make it into a beer commercial, but it'll definitely quench your thirst for something sweet and soulful. --Dan Epstein High Bias Available Light, the second solo album from Orange Peels leader Allen Clapp, was made in the new millennium but sounds like an artifact from the 70s. Clapp couches his unabashedly soft pop melodies in layers of lush electric pianos, analog synthesizers, 12-string and acoustic guitars and a light rhythm section, all played by himself. With searchingly romantic lyrics and an amiable tenor voice, Clapp sounds like Something/Anything?-era Todd Rundgren in a particularly mellow mood. Though the songs wouldn't offend your prudish grandmother, it's not because Clapp is a wimp, it's simply that he writes the kind of pretty tunes that appeal to a wide audience&emdash;without pandering, no less. Piano-led pop nuggets like "So Right" and "Not Gonna Fake It" recall the best of Rundgren, Emitt Rhodes or even Ben Folds Five, while the cosmically-inclined "High Above the Earth" sounds like Gary Wright if he'd had real talent. "Whenever We're Together" (which gets reprised with a chorus of "la la la's" at the end), "Just Like Yesterday" and "Big Bright Shiny Yellow Sun" are simply soft pop as it ought to be made. Clapp's canny use of synthesized strings creates a sofa on which his creations comfortably lounge, but the wistfulness and sense of yearning in his performances prevent the songs from dissolving into the kind of fluff that feels good against your skin for the first five minutes but then suddenly starts to irritate the hell out of your pores. In other words, Available Light is sweet but not saccharine, twee but not sickening, light but not diet. Allen Clapp will satisfy your sweet tooth without making it hurt. --Michael Toland POPISM "Whenever We're Together" (CD-EP, BUS STOP) Throughout the nineties Allen Clapp has been exploring the wonders of a pop song, with his Orchestra and later with The Orange Peels, and this EP is just a snippet of his solo release, "Available light", probably his best offering to date. Since the title song is the only one here to be taken from the album, considering the "B-sides", it seems that he had a hell of a job deciding which ones to be left off it. Listening to these tracks is an incredible experience, because it makes your imagination run wild, visualising the most unexpected musical collaborations. Most of the time, the sound recalls the early seventies Rundgren-geneering, but it's the other side of the desk that's busy. "Whenever we're together" is something that J.Mascis would've come up with, had he continued with the stuff he's written for the "Grace of my heart" soundtrack, "Sad September", with it's melodic "wilsonisms" and despite the autumnly title, would've fitted perfectly on any original Californian 6Ts sunshine-harmony concept, and the third song, called "Night falls", sounds kinda like The Pearlfishers' take on an early Neil Young melody. If you're into this kind of pop sophistication, I'm sure you'll have "Available light" even before the EP ends. --Goran Obradovic