PREMIERE: Clearance Shoot for the Canon with “Crowded Out”

Slack motherfuckers!
PREMIERE: Clearance Shoot for the Canon with “Crowded Out”

Slack motherfuckers!

Words: FLOOD Staff

photo by Stephania Dulowski

September 11, 2015

As long as there are liberal arts colleges, there will be dudes with thrift-store t-shirts and Stratocasters playing semi-ironic indie rock. Chicago’s own Clearance may be the next in a long line of groups to chin-check Pavement, but singer Mike Bellis’s voice sounds so much like that of Stephen Malkmus that listening to Rapid Rewards, the group’s debut LP, can feel a little bit like wandering into some secret history of Stockton’s Best.

But don’t let those sonic similarities scare you away. “Crowded Out,” which we’re premiering today, is an expertly carved slice of half-tempo magic-hour rock that jangles its way into a half-cocked guitar workout. Bellis and his group amble through the song, casually climbing the melody and wearing its melancholy overtone like a nametag from an event they left an hour ago. Yeah, you might’ve heard something like this before, but Clearance play this music so well that it doesn’t feel like a reanimation so much as a continuation. 

Rapid Rewards track list

“Delays Expected”Clearance-2015-Rapid_Rewards-Cover
“You’ve Been Pre-Approved”
“No Glance You Took”
“Non-Plussed”
“Rather Not Bother”
“Parlance Quote”
“Elsewhere Waits”
“Total Closeout”
“Crowded Out”
“Swiftboating”
“Care of the Claims Dept.”
“Flowers and Apoxy”
“Back of the Yards”

Rapid Rewards is out September 29 on Tall Pat/Unsatisfied.