Indie band The Clientele joins Wise Music Group

18 July 2025 - Press release

Wise Music Group is pleased to announce the worldwide signing of acclaimed British band The Clientele to our publishing roster under The Sparta Florida Music Group catalogue. 

Formed in 1991 in London, the English Pop band The Clientele are known for their ethereal soundscapes, literate lyricism, and cult following, carving out a unique place in the Indie music landscape. The band are currently composed of lead singer/guitarist Alasdair MacLean, drummer Mark Keen and bassist James Hornsey. Since their inception, the band have released eight albums and five EPs.

Wise Music Group will represent The Clientele’s catalogue worldwide, including their most recent and highly praised album I Am Not There Anymore (2023), as well as future works. This partnership underscores Wise Music’s ongoing commitment to supporting innovative and influential artists across genres.

The band have toured extensively in the United States, where they have experienced great success. For recordings, they are signed to Merge Records, a North Carolina–based independent record label owned by members of Superchunk. Coming up, the band will re-release their 2003 album “The Violet Hour” later this year. They’ll also perform live at St Pancras Old Church in London on 26th November.

“Today might just be my best day in the office so far, because I get to announce our signing of The Clientele!”, says Marcus Wise, CEO of Wise Music Group. “I’ve been a long-time fan of this London band since the late nineties. It is an absolute honour to publish The Clientele’s catalogue and forthcoming releases. Their pastoral and elegant songs are considered cult classics already, and these are serious musicians who are writing timeless music. I can’t wait to hear what they do next, and I’m proud that Wise Music will be supporting them along that journey.”

“We’re delighted to entrust our back catalogue and commit to some new music with a company that shares so many touch points with us in the worlds of pop and classical,” says Alasdair MacLean on behalf of the band. “They have a very obvious love and care for music."

Over the four-decade career of the band The Clientele, critics and fans have often described their songs with words like “ethereal,” “shimmering,” “hazy,” “pretty” and “fragile.” MacLean, though, has his own interpretation of the effect his music creates. “It’s that feeling of not being there,” he says. “What’s really been in all the records is a sense of not actually inhabiting the moment that your body is in.”