LIVE REPORT ~ LiN CLOVER: November 10, 2007

PMX Los Angeles, CA

LiN CLOVER, the little girl adopted by three musicians, bassist Ren, guitarist Nao, and vocalist YuRi, has been raised well by her earnest guardians. LiN CLOVER has described their name as being a girl they took under their wing, and if it can be seen as such, this girl has certainly bloomed into a cosmic, musically-cleansing force, and yet, a force that still wreaks havoc where and when she can.

They aren’t flashy. They aren’t visual. Already, a huge chunk of the Jrock fanbase might be shaking their heads and thinking, “I don’t want to get into this.” Surprisingly, they might find it very hard not to be absorbed into LiN CLOVER’s dynamic live performances. With a sound drifting between unearthly alternative and emotionally-driven heavy climaxes, finding a category to box LiN CLOVER in is a task that might as well be crossed off and never touched upon again. Complete with matching blazers and ties, LiN CLOVER succeeded in captivating the audience without the aid of glam visuals or crazy stage-hopping.

LiN CLOVER is a bit more subdued in their performances, but each member is clearly in their own world and that’s rather interesting to watch. Ren, for instance, is like Elvis with a bass. Extremely smooth-moved and well-versed, he pretty much looks like the world’s coolest antihero who isn’t actually an antihero. So while Ren oozes cool, Nao’s demeanor is more about perspiration. There is an obvious connection between Nao and his guitar and it’s extraordinary to watch that connection unfold into an intense chemistry. That leaves YuRi, who is so unique a performer that it’s almost impossible to pin-point what makes her so graceful, so charming, so spellbinding to watch. She gets lost in the music quite easily which in turn kind of pulls everyone else in and before anyone realizes what has happened, they’re lost in the music as well. YuRi has the power to instigate that, so it’s definitely an evocative power she carries, through her voice to deep inside everyone else’s brain chambers.



LiN CLOVER has an almost magical aura, despite their style being so inconspicuous on the outside – they’re a rageful tiger inside. No song is similar to the other. Much of the songs stemmed from their JapanFiles released album, slumber. Empty assured that the vibrant, shining eyes of the audience were glued to YuRi and Ren’s soulful harmonizing, while Risou Decibel is a propelling rock ballad that lifts higher with each unfolding note. Higanbana wa Mama, like the aforementioned songs, is both sweeping and enchanting. Whether it echoes with sorrow or happiness, that’s up to the listener to decide. In fact with much of the music, it can be said that it really is up to the listener to decide what meaning there might be. LiN CLOVER’s music provokes a lot of imagery and a variety of emotions can be found in every song.

For the majority of this report, the focus has been on the music mainly because the music completely overshadowed the performance. It’s haunting how a tune can turn the lights off to what’s happening in the present and provoke images and thoughts that might have been lost until LiN CLOVER’s melodies decided to wake them up. And yet, there was still room for rocking out and headbanging, and for most people that’s enough to satisfy. For others, they were probably satisfied out of their minds. Literally.