Benjamin Clementine

Debut Album: At Least For Now

Winner of the Mercury Prize 2015 Album Of The Year
UK Tour: including sold-out date at St John-at-Hackney Church on December
7, 2015
New single: Cornerstone December 4, 2015
At Least For Now, the critically acclaimed debut album by 26 year-old singer/songwriter Benjamin Clementine, has won the
Mercury Music Prize 2015 Album of the Year. The news came on Friday November 20 as Lauren Laverne announced the
winner at the awards ceremony, which took place in the Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House in London. The judging panel
described Clementine as a remarkable new pianist and singer dramatic, intimate and pulsatingly original.
Released in the UK through Behind / Virgin EMI, At Least For Now has been described as a remarkable, beyondcategorisation debut album - genuinely heart-wrenching (Sunday Times), a masterpiece (Independent On Sunday) and
Clementine an extraordinary new musical talent. Incredible (Evening Standard). The album has led to Clementine selling out six
headline shows in London, including David Brynes Meltdown Festival and a forthcoming headline date at St John at Hackney on
December 7. Overseas, Clementine has received Best New Act honours at Les Victoires de la Musique, the French equivalent of
the Grammys, alongside sold-out shows across Europe and the US.
Clementine has packed a lot into his 26 years: heartbreak, homelessness, reinvention, before reaching cult status in Paris and
returning home in unlikely circumstances to make his UK live debut on LaterWith Jools Holland, since described by the BBC as
one of the greatest Jools moments of any era. Raised in Londons Edmonton, he stumbled upon classical radio rather than
contemporary pop; a sparse piano solo by Erik Satie in particular transformed the way he played. At 16 years old, in a rare
moment of permitted TV watching, he caught New York avant-gardists Antony and the Johnsons performing the disarmingly naked
Hope Theres Someone on the BBC. I was confused, scaredit was another world, says Clementine. Further inspired by figures
like Leonard Cohen and Jake Thackray - and with no emotional or employment ties to keep him in London - Benjamin absconded
to Paris aged 20; sleeping rough, working in kitchens and busking out of economic necessity.
At Least For Now is the result of this self-education and wandering spirit. Opening track Winston Churchills Boy begins with the
line, Never in the field of human affection / Had so much been given for so few attention, paraphrasing Churchills legendary
WWII speech to pinpoint the gulf between himself and his family, growing up. That tone of freedom also defines the ten tracks
that follow, as does Benjamins vocal style: sometimes soulful, but occasionally breaking into the startling (the spoken word,
song-within-a-song aria of Adios, befitting a visit from angels, or the manic laugh of Quiver A Little). Unfettered but equally
focused, the rhythmic, string-laden Nemesis was written after the disillusioning end of an affair, when Clementine found himself
back sleeping rough on the boulevard where his girlfriend once lived (the rolling peals of Cornerstone also cover this period).
And though London chronicles the push-pull bonds of returning home, At Least For Now ultimately sticks to that more singular
path.
Benjamin embarks on a five-date tour of the UK for December 2015 commencing at Manchesters Quays
Theatre on December 1. A new single Cornerstone, a highlight of At Least For Now, will receive a UK release in support of
the tour on December 4 through Behind/Virgin EMI.
Upcoming UK shows:
Dec 1 Manchester Quays Theatre (tickets)
Dec 2 Gateshead The Sage Hall 2 (tickets)
Dec 3 Brighton St George Church (tickets)
Dec 4 Bristol The Lantern SOLD OUT
Dec 7 London St John at Hackney Church SOLD OUT
Press for Benjamin Clementine:
Remarkable, beyond-categorisation debut album - genuinely heart-wrenching (Debut Album of the Week) - Sunday Times
Culture
"An extraordinary musical statement startling and entirely original. A masterpiece ***** - Independent On Sunday
Nina Simones brother steps into an elegant French caf, sits down at the piano and tears open a vein Rolling Stone
Clementines debut album is by turns bold, brave, beautiful and at times quite brilliant. An exciting new talent **** - The
Observer
Intoxicating torch songs of estrangement and passion. A powerful introduction to a compelling artists presence **** - Mojo
An antidote to a mediocrity that seems so pervasive with solo singers right now. He has the magnificent phrasing of Nat King
Cole, the earthy humor of Jacques Brel and a gift for random left field oddness that few artists since Scott Walker have

possessed Noisey
An extraordinary new musical talent. Incredible ***** - Evening Standard
The 24 year old marries the intimacy of Antony Hegarty with the passion of Aretha Franklin and the intensity of Edith Piath,
delivering his introspective lyrics about integrity and vulnerability with an almost operative soul sensibility that recalls Nina
Simone **** - The Independent
Anyone attending last nights concert would have realised that Clementine has talent to burn **** - The Daily Telegraph
An exceptional musical outingentirely defined by its creators unique vision. He may have created 2015s most striking and
bewitching album ***** - The Arts Desk