Colin Carberry catches up with one Northern Irelands hottest new singer-songwriters David C Clements

David C Clements had his big musical epiphany at an Elliot Smith tribute night.

So, it’s safe to assume, he’s not someone who’s ever been frightened of emotionally literate balladry.

His debut album, The Longest Day In History, doesn’t run shy of the show-stopping slowie (in fact, it runs directly towards it with arms open), but, and praise be, it doesn’t dig in for a wallow once it gets there.

If the dominant colours are primary ones, that’s probably understandable. Like most debuts, it’s a record that draws from a long gestation.

“We started the album two years ago,” he proffers, “but the oldest song on the album is over five years old. There’s a nice mix of old and new on it. I started my first band when I was about 15 messing about in my drummer’s roof space playing covers. Writing songs was just the natural next step, it made sense to play your own songs. I taught myself how to play guitar from a Travis songbook and every new chord I learnt would inspire a new song. That’s continued throughout my years as a songwriter. Every new chord or style of playing you learn informs your writing. There are a lot of themes of light and darkness throughout the album, which Tim Farrel, who designed the artwork, picked up on and based the cover art on. I realised when typing up the lyrics how much I write about love. I suppose it’s an album about all aspects of life and love, both light and dark.”

In common with a lot of local musicians over recent years, David cites Iain Archer and Duke Special as important influences. And the serious mindedness of those artists is evident here.

“I’ve learnt a lot over the years about refining songs,” David reveals. “Anything that makes it in to a song needs to make sense in the context of the rest of the song. I used to write songs that would be made up of five different ideas, tangent upon tangent! I try to stick to more structured writing now.”

There are enough discordant hints and shadows on the album to suggest that David’s imagination is a restless one, likely to lead him in worthwhile directions. Likely, actually, to lead him in some worthwhile directions on-stage too.

“I want to keep playing my songs to people who want to hear them. Hopefully we’ll get the chance to do that in some interesting ways this year. I’m keen to do some house shows and gigs in interesting venues. I’ve a show this month in the old Courthouse in Hillsborough. I think it pushes you as a performer playing in more intimate settings.”