Success in the dream pop field is reliant upon establishing and sustaining a certain lush ambience, but songs are just as crucial. On their new album The Coin That Broke the Fountain Floor, the New Zealand duo Clementine Valentine hit the right balance of those necessary components and then seal the deal with strong vocal presence. The nine-song effort delivers a powerful and memorable statement that’s available now on vinyl (transparent red and black), compact disc, and digital through the enduring Kiwi label Flying Nun.
Sibling duo Clementine and Valentine Nixon were formerly known as Purple Pilgrims, debuting with a self-titled lathe cut 8-inch (PseudoArcana, 2011) and then a split LP with Gary War (Upset! The Rhythm, 2013) before releasing two full-lengths, Eternal Delight (Not Not Fun, 2016) and Perfumed Earth (Flying Nun, 2019).
As Purple Pilgrims, the sisters Nixon started out in a pretty underground place, offering two untitled tracks on that 8-inch lathe cut that still sound like they could’ve been released by the Xpressway label roughly a decade before. But with each successive release, the dream pop quotient (which to be clear was there from the beginning) increased, and so it continues with The Coin That Broke the Fountain Floor, coinciding with a name change.
These are fruitful developments however, and cohesive, as Gary War’s streak of collaboration with the sisters continues on this new record, where he plays bass and synth. Other notable contributors include Matt Chamberlain on drums, percussion and modular synth, JR Bohannon on pedal steel, Josh Kennedy on guitar, Adam Wolcott Smith on keys, Brent Arnold on cello, Don McGreevy on bass, guitar and 12 string guitar, and Randall Dunn on synths, programming, guitar, and production.
The sisters both sing and play guitar, as Clementine contributes synth, and they wrote all the songs of course, as the album’s root is demos cut in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Coromandel Peninsula during Covid isolation. As on Perfumed Earth, there’s no question who’s responsible for the record’s creative verve. Opener “Gatekeeper” is a solid beauty move with a sturdy, gracefully simple rhythmic foundation and smartly applied strings. As the track achieves liftoff, the vocals soar.
“All I See” has more of a nighttime noirish car drive new wave feel (it’s in the guitar playing), at least until the choruses kick in, and then the glistening new wavy atmosphere gets a boost. But this isn’t lazy style copping, as the song is a good one, dishing the most rocking momentum on the album. Even better is the dynamic and impassioned “Time and Tide,” and then comes “The Understudy,” thick with increasingly swirling cathedral organ and a momentary refocus on strings (with a drone edge), though the dominant constant is the richness of the vocals, easily transcending the dream pop norm.
“Selenelion” is a sweet slice of moody pop that should thrill fans of ’90s 4AD. Lingering in the same decade, “The Rope” is a fine blend of Alt-pop auteur chanteuse action. And it’s tempting to say that in a better world, “Endless Night” would be a legit pop hit, but after consideration, there are just too many subtly unusual elements that would limit widespread appeal as they raise the song’s level of quality.
Taking a late art-chamber-pop turn is “Actors Tears” as the dream pop bullseye is hit with the outstanding closer “All Yesterdays Flowers.” The Coin That Broke the Fountain Floor finds the Nixon sisters using a new name but expanding on the potential of their prior work and in turn making one of the better dream pop records to hit my ear in quite a while.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
