A Perth-based musician who has accumulated a decade's plus experience in other projects as a guitarist – tracing a path across shoegaze, grunge, jazz fusion and stoner rock – Clay Brown is stepping out as the frontman with his newest group.
Dubbed Clay Brown & The Trouble Round Town, the quartet (Jess June on drums, Zoe Gol on bass, lead guitarist Michael Menna and Clay) remains a project for Clay's solo endeavours spurred by his mother's cancer diagnosis in 2023 and subsequent passing.
After releasing his debut solo single 'Traffic Signs' last year, followed by the songs 'Homesick Blues' and 'All My Friends (Atrophy)', Clay's latest release is titled 'No Place' – a reflective track about being caught between grief and the fragile beginnings of something new.
Bruised yet sparkly guitar is melded to Clay's nasally yet buoyant vocals that are distinctly Australian, crisp yet swirly drums adding a poppier texture before the song changes gear, swerving into indie alt-rock territory.
There's hints of Jebediah and Eskimo Joe floating throughout alongside a modern gleam of conversational storytelling that creates a relaxed vibe, like you're chatting with a mate discussing life's ups and downs, resolving nothing but better mentally for sharing the stresses we all face as humans.
Add a waltzing, languid slide guitar that meanders mid-track, giving the song a sultry alt. country flavour, and Clay and his band have crafted a gorgeous slice of shoegaze-filled indie rock that feels timeless in its essence.
"Lyrically, I always want to put the listener right there so they can relate to the song's atmosphere," shares Clay, "so the delivery and word choice is quite conversational as if we're sitting out the back after a gig having a few drinks, and I'm laying it all out on the table what's going on."
Ahead of the song's release tomorrow (17 October), today scenestr is delighted to premiere 'No Place'. Enjoy.
"Some of the influences towards my new single 'No Place' would be Artists like Noah Kahan and The Cure. I wanted to keep tabs on the simplicity in the arrangement, and let the lyrics really be the focal point for the listener," Clay says.
After a run of solo shows in London and Edinburgh, Brown leads a new chapter that places his songwriting and voice firmly at the centre. "Creatively with this one I wanted to get that poppy chorus and catchy guitar hooks with this track – probably my first song written in this style, of very much looped 4x chords aside from the bridge.
"This was more of an experiment at first, but turned into a song I'm really happy with, as I have the tendency to overcomplicate my songs during the writing process and think they need all of the parts to keep things interesting – sometimes less is more really is the key!"
That pull towards simplicity carried over into the recording phase of 'No Place'. "This song was recorded in about three days, as we knew it didn't need much to keep the drive going," Clay says, "just subtle changes in dynamic or the arrangement as we went – enough to keep things exciting and bringing in a new element as the song went along.
"Towards the end of the track when the chorus is being re-sang, we bring back in the catchy guitar hook from earlier – a subtle addition, but it adds more to the stakes at the end and helps to build up to the end of the song.
"When I came in to do the final vocal, producer Thomas Purdy had added a nice slide guitar part in the bridge, which was the cherry on top because it also harks back to a previous release, 'Traffic Signs', that had a similar slide guitar part in the instrumental breaks.
"Small things like this is why it's good to work with others in songwriting and recording, as it's not something I would have thought of that could bring the new and the old together."
Clay Brown & The Trouble Round launch 'No Place' at El Grotto (Perth) on 24 October.
