St. Claire is a band that deserves the folk label. Hailing from across the globe, the members of this quartet have chosen to build their home atop the muddy waters of rustic guitars and banjos, and solid foundations of wide open spaces of love-weary lyrics. Indeed, while other ‘folk’ performers don traditional instruments but keep the melodies as radio-friendly pop fodder, (Mumford and Sons anyone?) St. Claire isn’t afraid to tell a story of heartbroken pain, rooted in tradition, but sounding like the first time it’s been told. Like the beautifully haunting ‘He is a Ghost,’ where a repeated ode to love becomes an anthemic act of desperation. But you’ll have to listen to these pleas yourself to really appreciate the fact that the band’s now settled into Brooklyn. See them when they play Piano’s on Tuesday, December 11th (tonight) or at Rock Shop on January 6. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)
The song "He is a Ghost" was added to our Soundcloud playlist of folk NYC based artists here.