Clem Snide

Clem Snide emerged in 1991 as a trio whose music blended the melodic warmth of old-school pop, the nocturnal atmosphere of cool jazz, the solitary essence of traditional country, and the gentle restraint of folk. Although the group has weathered repeated shifts in personnel and direction since its inception, its core remains the singing and compositions of Eef Barzelay. The songs typically convey a tender melancholy, yet a quiet humor surfaces regularly in the words. Their sole major-label effort, the subdued 2000 album Your Favorite Music, brought both critical praise and wider commercial notice, whereas 2001’s The Ghost of Fashion placed greater emphasis on pop elements. Steady activity continued through the 2000s, yet after issuing The Meat of Life in 2010 the band receded from view. When Forever Just Beyond arrived in 2020, produced by Scott Avett, Clem Snide had already fractured, leaving Barzelay to work with an ever-changing circle of acquaintances and studio players.

Barzelay first gathered the band while studying in Boston in the early 1990s. The original lineup existed chiefly to perform his earliest songs, and its style leaned toward loud, dissonant punk-jazz marked by harsh guitar and squawking saxophone. The name itself derives from a figure in William S. Burroughs’s Naked Lunch. Occasional local performances and two 7-inch singles on a regional imprint followed, but Barzelay grew disillusioned with both the musicians and the city; the group disbanded in 1994.

After leaving school and returning to the East Coast—he had been raised in New Jersey—Barzelay was living with his parents when the urge to write songs returned in 1996. He renewed contact with former bassist Jason Glasser, who was then studying cello at art school in New York City. The pair began shaping new material as Fruit Key; once double-bassist Jeff Marshall joined, Barzelay revived the Clem Snide name. By late 1996 they were appearing at small New York venues. The next year drummer Brad Reitz came aboard, and demo sessions expanded into a full album with assorted friends contributing. The resulting debut, You Were a Diamond, appeared in 1998.

Reitz departed in 1999, and Eric Paul took over percussion during the recording of Your Favorite Music, released while the band enjoyed a brief association with Sire Records. That relationship had already ended by the completion of The Ghost of Fashion in 2001, yet exposure increased when the track “Moment in the Sun” became the theme for the television series Ed. Extensive touring followed in 2002, though Jeff Marshall eventually tired of the road and exited; he still participated in the sessions for The Soft Spot (2003), which also featured multi-instrumentalist Pete Fitzpatrick. Pete’s cousin Brendan Fitzpatrick soon joined on bass. For 2004’s End of Love the lineup was augmented by Ben Perowsky, Lara Meyerratken, Paul Burch, Tony Crow, and Ben Martin. Hungry Bird surfaced on 429 Records in 2009, followed by The Meat of Life the next year.

Between 2010 and 2015 Barzelay issued several digital-only releases under his own name and as Clem Snide, but after Girls Come First in 2015 he entered a period of inactivity amid a dissolving marriage, the band’s collapse, and mounting financial strain. To stabilize his income he introduced a subscription platform offering subscribers monthly access to archival live and studio recordings plus a continuing flow of new songs. After viewing footage of the Avett Brothers performing a Clem Snide number live, Barzelay contacted the group; Scott Avett agreed to collaborate. The two formed the nucleus of the sessions that produced Forever Just Beyond in 2020—the first Clem Snide album in ten years—joined by Bill Reynolds, Ketch Secor, and Mike Marsh.