‘Clover’ is the debut record from Chicago-based folk duo Sleeper’s Bell (Blaine Teppema and Evan Green). The nine songs find Blaine revisiting her teenage journals and writing letters to her younger self, bringing in her lived experiences as she tries to offer advice that can heal…
The title track opens the album with a genteel sound as the short and sweet song finds Blaine asking ‘Can I be your three-leaf clover. Can I make your heart beat slower?’ This is followed by ‘Bad Word’, a track that quite literally encourages younger Blaine to ‘look back at the heartache’. There’s a touch of Rosie Tucker-style twinkly emo in the sound as she asks ‘How can I survive if I feel that way?’ This nostalgic tone continues through on the poignant ‘Phone Call’ with its astute observations: ‘The world is full of things that won’t sit still’.
‘Room’ references Springsteen – always a positive in our book – while ‘Bored’ is reminiscent of early Julien Baker with its melancholy tones: ‘I want to come see you and talk like we used to’. There’s a country feel to the riffs on the penultimate ‘Over’ – ‘I don’t think it’s over. I think it’s just begun so I’ll move on’. ‘Hey Blue’ finishes the album with the kind of raw emotion that serves Conor Oberst so well as Blaine fondly remembers a much-missed person: ‘You know that she was my friend, too’.
Looking for an album which will transport you back to a more innocent, but no less painful, time? With ‘Clover’, you’re in luck.
