SPOTLIGHT: CLIFTON

[CULTURE] Paul Alexander from The Ones tell us why Clifton is a performer that once seen, will never be forgotten.

And It Begins. What I would like to think of as a new sound, a new path in music, and a new way to mix all the familiar elements we have all heard endlessly. All the same elements that keep getting recycled from song to song and artist to artist because, let’s face it, there is nothing new under the sun. And so it begins: a fresh interpretation on the idea of what all those elements, and what music, can sound like.

Clifton: And It Begins.
Take a distant choir of male voices singing over a marching band. The familiar sound of a Carnival Big Top combined with the oddly urban placement of a rap artist you might encounter while roller-skating on Venice Beach. The tinker tonk sounds of a wind up Nickelodeon; the chants of a Pagan ceremony. Add in the comfortable essence of Simon and Garfunkle with the powerful voice of Big Brother. Lay it on a Timbalandstyle crazy beat or some New Romantic sincerity or even a Motown-interpreted groove. Imagine, if you will, the sounds you might hear if your dreams were singing. A feeling that gets you not in the front of the head, but somewhere deeper inside it. That gets you in the place where the spirit rests.

Clifton’s music does this. It seems to be innate to who he is. A natural-born artist
who observes the world he is in and then can blend all the bits into one strong
musical debut. A trip on mescaline you wish you had taken back in 1980. The music on the starship to Mars all rolled into one fantastic 11-song experience.

Clifton is a Maryland native who now lives in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York. There he lives the life of a struggling artist. Working when he can to pay to make the art that is his passion.

And It Begins stands to lead us in a new direction from what is normally expected to come from a young Black American artist. Seeing him live, each song became
performance pieces with the aid of visual images including film, extreme costumes,
and dancers both dancing and just dramatically moving slowly. All the elements seeming to perfectly punctuate the complexity of the music, creating an experience unlike most might have had previously and dare I say I have had ever.

As well as being a solo artist, he is also a third of the most original performance trio to come along in years, enSubtitles. It all starts making sense. When it finally seems new, it will be Clifton.

‘And It Begins’ by Clifton is available to purchase on iTunes

You can read about Clifton (and some fabulous portraits of him by photographer Nathan Lee Bush and more talented queer artists from across the globe in Issue 3: The Art Issue. Click here to buy a copy today.