Number 2 of 2004 — Clara Hill: Restless Times

There’s a little piece of me that really wanted this to be my top album of 2004, but sometimes exceptions have to be made. Instead it takes second place. There’s another little piece of me that briefly wondered if this album is what could have happened in some other universe if TLC had signed to Warp early in their career.

More surprising is that if the iTunes Music Store had launched in the UK earlier in 2004 I would never had discovered this sublime album. Because I found it whilst rooting around on the US store, then bought it on import.

I’m not a fan of R&B, or jazz, or soul. It takes an exceptional record from one of these genres to make me buy it. Restless Times comes from all three and it is indeed exceptional. But first, a bit of history – thanks to Sonar Kollektiv for this information:

Aged 17, Clara Hill founded an acid jazz band named Superjuice with her friend Funès. It was during this time, touring through Berlin that she met DJ Alex from Jazzanova. In 1998 this led her to the producers of Extended Spirit and she sang on a few of their tracks. In the meantime, Clara also sang in another band: Stereoton, mixing hip-hop with jazz. Ultimately, she worked with Jazzanova, contributing a song for their In Between album. Restless Times was recorded with various people from these collaborations.

How best to describe this album? Well, the tiny perfectly formed first track Maybe Now, is hardly electronic. It’s late night jazz, with soothing repeated vocals, harmonies and chilled electric piano. But there’s a hint that it’s not your traditional opener. For Your Love takes this further, adding broken beats, swirling keys and a distinct taste of ‘less-is-more’ (which is probably the main musical lesson to take from this album). Clara’s vocals are the loveliest I’ve heard for years.

But everything comes together perfectly in Silent Distance. It’s this third track which introduces synthesized drums, as a merest hint, and takes the filtered pad technique mainstream. It’s when I heard the second bassline on this song, which comes over the chorus that I began to understand the place where that this album belongs. It turns out that this album is the culmination of intelligent dance music. Most people deride techno as cold. However, anyone whose heard the entire range of such music will know that there can be great warmth and humanity within it. Ironically, it was there when Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson first got together to create it. Restless Times plays with repeated vocals – another trait of this album – and adds broken vocals as percussive backing.

The casual listener will think that nothing much happens during this album. Sure, the style is pretty constant and the vocal delivery similar. But the joy is in discovering the nuances in each track that makes it unique, where techniques introduced in one track pop up elsewhere. If you consider the apparently throwaway loop at the start of Flawless (Part 1), for example – by the end it’s at the core of the track. Perhaps this album is as much an intellectual experience as an emotional one.

But listen closer still and things do change: Here is all house music, inspired perhaps by some of Clara’s previous collaborations. One of three danceable tracks. There are also two male singers. Joe Dukie appears on Flawless (Part 2) and Sascha Gottschalk co-wrote and sings with Clara on Morning Star. And I never saw the obvious musical and lyrical connection between Flawless Part 1 and 2 until I came to write this review. Funny.

Ultimately this album is the smoothest thing to come out of 2004. Every single little hook and beat is perfectly placed. Lyrically inspired by life and by nature. The consistency and continuity of each track adds to its value by confirming the impression that this is a grown up piece of work. Not chucked out simply for commercial success. Restless Times is devastating. Listen to Reprise, for example. Or I’m Here:

“I’m here, stay a while and save my life.
I am here, stay a while and make it right.”