PATIENCE: The Church (Night School, 2016)

ORDER HERE: Video by Jess Scott with assistance from Martha Orchard. The patience of a tear reflecting the disco-ball, the pleasure/pain principle of losing someone close, the longing earned on a deserted pier. Patience is an alias of Roxanne Clifford, a songwriter of repute most recently fronting Veronica Falls. With Patience, Clifford has broken the band-shackles, jettisoned other voices and mainlines a sweetened melodic nous recognisable from her other work, though this time over an impeccable synth pop production. These recordings were waxed with the assistance of Lewis Cook of Glasgow band Happy Meals at Full Ashram Celestial Gardens, Glasgow and Sam Pillay of Virginia Wing at VW House, with Don Pyle on mixing duties. From the onset the listener is plunged into dry ice, a sweeping synth and drum opening beamed in from a club in mid-80s Italy. Clifford’s voice cuts straight to the heart, a tale of late nights, the dance of guilt and ecstasy. Lyrically, we’re rooted at the spot where the church once stood but the Patient heart waits elsewhere, in the dry mists of dreams. B-side My Own Invention is nominally a ballad, a minimal composition that with the sampled vocal harmonies references Laurie Anderson but with a heart-warming melodic line. It’s a simple, nursery-rhyme mini-drama that is effortlessly breezy and a wonderfully sweet partner to dancing with tears in your eyes A-side. Wait for Patience, there will be more.