Smiling client

• More gloomy? - In response to my question, the blonde at the other end of the wire smiles dazzlingly, directly from London to Moscow. At least this is what I feel with my ear. Yes, the word Gloomy is not very successful, ambiguous. Maybe I had in mind the "leading longing"?

We are talking about only the released second album of the British group Client. They became a sensation in the year of their debut, but the second disc, City, seemed boring to someone. But I don't think so. Especially - during a conversation with a charming blonde who is called Sarah Blackwood. She in Client works as a vocalist.

The second half of the group is the brunette Kate Holmes. Both girls are talented and good, especially when dressed in the uniform of stewardesses. They also have a very serious biography. Sarah was noted as the most photogenic participant of the Dubstar, popular in the 90s Electro-POP. Kate in the 80s was part of Frazier Chorus, and more recently, her other group - Technique - regularly warmed up Depeche Mode. Actually, they met this way: before the joint concert of the "dispatches" and Technique, the latter lost vocals. Sarah Blackwood, who played at the replacement, was so to the place that a new group turned out.

And then just the old "dispatch" Andy Fletcher decided to organize his own recording company. And the first client - by acquaintance - became the Client group. “How,” I ask Sarah, “does it work with Andy? Isn't he pressing its authority too much?” Sarah smiles again, her ear is already tired of her smiles, and gives out a number of compliments. Fletch, of course, will not turn red, he will not get used to it, but still limits the resume: he is a good person, this Andy, and working with him is a pleasure.

True, the first time this connection - like all other information - was hidden in the group. Girls conspiracy called themselves Client a (Kate) and Client B (Sarah). “We just wanted the new group to evaluate the music, and not according to the old merits of its members,” Client Bi explained to me. And without that, they reinforced the worthy statement with excellent songs, albeit without any delights.

Words-orientations: synth-pop, electro, techno. Of course, their music sounds pretty shocked, sometimes with irony prodshovsky. And on the new album - also with the involvement of the "dispatches" themselves: with Fletch it is clear whether Martin Lee Gore sang in the Overdrive song. But at the same time, everything is individual, emphasized stylishly. Distracted electronic chords accompany no less cold-beautiful vocals. In general, dejavu on the topic of the 1980s. I ask the question on this topic, Sarah is trying to explain that Client is not at all retro-warehouse. And time is different now, she tells me, and technology and sound. I heard the same words from Alexander Bard . Okay, convinced.

• We like to be in the underground, ”Sarah convinces again, and again it is impossible not to believe. Although why - it is not entirely clear. This is probably all a smile on the other end of the wire.

And also, he says, she liked in Moscow and St. Petersburg, he liked that she noticed the difference between the cities. Client came to Russia-for some kind of half-closed party. Sarah promised to return with a real open concert.

And then she smiled so that her ear was just swollen - wasn't it with pleasure? Before that, I began to talk about the fact that in Russia, they say, different thoughtful texts are very fond of. And you, they say, are quite simple. Then she smiled.