The new video for the Brooklyn band’s song “about lament and regret” is a work of collaboration by multi-talented musicians
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I’m no philosopher and I’m certainly no physicist, but there’s something endlessly fascinating about the idea of parallel universes. That with each decision you make, there’s another version of you out there that’s fulfilling the alternate destiny. A you who turned left not right, chose the girl over the gig, picked up a baseball before the bass or moved to LA instead of BK.
For better or for worse, we aren’t able to peek through the starry blinds of space and time or peer deep into the cosmos to examine these alternate outcomes—the lives and loves that could’ve, should’ve, been. Things might have been better; they might have been worse. And we’ll never know. Instead we’re left to lean into our decisions, to embrace the outcomes and to deal with the results. The only reality we can reckon with is this one, and the only past we can truly reflect on is the one we’re building in the present, instantly and constantly creating with each action and every word.
In 2021, as part of their split with New Zealand’s Swallow the Rat, Clone released “Speak, Memory”—a track, named for what I can only assume is the memoir of the same name by Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov, a series of short stories through which the author revisits and recounts the moments of beauty, loss, privilege and pain that comprise his own past and an autobiographical endeavor he described in one letter as “a scientific attempt to unravel and trace back all the tangled threads of one’s personality.” Clone’s track feels similar to this effort: an act of reflection and a simultaneous look at what is and what was, as well as the ever-present, sometimes devastating idea of what could have been.
“[‘Speak, Memory’ is] a song about lament and regret,” LG Galleon of Clone shared over email. “When so many of your thoughts that instantly become memories… but are never verbalized. One voice in your head says ‘Yes,’ one voice in your head says ‘NO,’ which one do you pick and what consequences must you deal with in your decision of choosing one.”
Now, nearly a year and a half after the song’s release, I’m excited to reintroduce this song I love so much to you via video. From Clone, this is the brand-new music vid for “Speak, Memory.”
In true Brooklyn music-community form, this project is a product of collaboration by multi-talented musicians taking advantage of our neighborhood’s naturally interesting settings, featuring a rooftop performance layered with trippy visuals.
“This video was made by musicians in the scene right here on Meserole Ave.,” LG shared of the video, “and would not have been made possible without the work of Jake McCown (Bloody Knives) who did all the special effects and the colour and James Silverman (ex-Dead Leaf Echo) who did all the filming.”
Allow this video to serve as a sample of what you can expect from the band’s live performance, then catch Clone THIS SUNDAY at a free outdoor event at Maria Hernandez Park. (They’re on at 4 p.m.; details here.) Plus, don’t miss your chance to see the band at an upcoming stream of shows around and outside of the city on the following tour dates:
10/28 – NYC @ Windjammer
11/11 – NYC @ Main Drag Music
12/03 – NYC @ East Williamsburg Econo Lodge
12/04 – Holyoke, Massachusetts @ Apeland
12/06 – Toronto, Canada @ The Baby G
12/07 – Saratoga Springs, New York @ Desperate Annie’s
After all, we’ve each made more than enough decisions we regret. Don’t let missing a Clone show be one of them.
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Follow Clone at @clonebknyc, buy music o Bandcamp and add the songs to your Spotify playlists.
Feature image provided by the band.