Ground Control Touring

Amor de Días (Spanish for “love of days”) is the name of the until-now secret supergroup formed by Alasdair MacLean of the Clientele and Lupe Núñez-Fernández of Pipas. Street of the Love of Days, their debut album, will be released May 17 on CD, LP and digital download.

Written between Spain and the UK, the album would be recorded at Regal Lane Studio which, thanks to the generosity of producer Ken Brake, allowed them almost unlimited recording hours. Over the course of three years, they quietly put together their debut record during evenings and weekends as they called in local friends (Louis Philippe) and visiting musicians (Damon & Naomi, Gary Olson) for sessions, building up their songs’ multifaceted arrangements and vocal harmonies with harps, bouzoukis, strings, recorders, and brass.

The result is a focused, cohesive jewel of chamber pop, reflecting a little of Gal Costa and Caetano Veloso’s elegant brand of bossa nova, a little of Erik Satie’s haunting night music, and a large dose of spooky psychedelic folk. The beautiful harmony singing throughout the record makes it all their own, however, and nowhere more obviously than on “Harvest Time,” which was recorded first by Amor de Días and only afterwards by the Clientele (on 2009’s Bonfires on the Heath). The version here is the original, primal take, previously unheard. At times spare and empty, at times rich with instrumental texture, and at times jazz-tinged and hypnotic, Street of the Love of Days rivals anything either Alasdair or Lupe has recorded before.