The Clientele Set Bonfires on the Heath

The Clientele — a longtime fave ’round these parts — are putting the finishing touches on their fifth album. Titled Bonfires on the Heath, the album is tentatively scheduled for this October on Merge. Pitchfork has more details, including a track list, as well as a recent interview with lead singer Alasdair MacLean in which he discusses the new album, haunting literature, and the band’s potential end.

Pitchfork: So you’d say this album is a more austere affair than the last one?

AM: It is. It’s more full of ghosts and doubts and signs and wonders than any other Clientele record. It’s very spooky and tremendously sad at times. It’s about watching yourself disappear.

[…]

Pitchfork: Does that mean this is the end for the Clientele?

AM: It might do, I haven’t really decided yet. I think it’d close the chapter quite well. If you don’t have any more ideas you should just go away, I guess. But I don’t want to announce that the Clientele is breaking up. It’s always up in the air, you constantly have to rethink what you’re doing and wonder whether it’s courageous enough.

Pitchfork: If this is the end, would you be satisfied with what the Clientele accomplished?

AM: It’s a body of work that I’m not ashamed of. We survived generally being ignored in the UK, which I’m quite proud of. A lot of people would have given up if they’d been handed out the kind of treatment we get in our home country.

If you’re curious as to why The Clientele are such a fave, then by all means, check out a few songs on their MySpace page.

Related: MacLean has a side-project with Pipas’ Lupe Núñez-Fernández called Amor De Dias that MacLean describes as “all acoustic guitars in jazz and Spanish rhythm, and half of it is in Spanish.” The duo is nearly done with recording their first album, though no word yet on who is going to release it.