Diego Clare

Diego Clare spent his adolescence writing songs in an unfinished guesthouse whose walls were haunted by the handwritten pleas of its previous tenants: 'You always leave' 'You never keep your promises.' A minor detail, yes, but to a fifteen-year-old waking to life and music, familial dramas like these are the lifeblood of creativity. Clare formed The Limetree Warehouse in the tenth grade. The group, an ever-evolving roster of close friends, quickly gained traction at The Unknown Theater, a now defunct art space in east Hollywood that bore a vibrant and fiercely allegiant musical community. 'Limetree' (as they became affectionately known) was a fixture at these shows—slated alongside acts such as HAIM, Dawes, Baths (previously Geotic and Post-Foetus), Blake Mills, and PAPA. Clare later hosted and helped curate the $2 shows—a renown non-profit and benefit concert series founded by Capital Cities trumpeter (and former Limetree member), Spencer Ludwig. With concerts often held in Clare's own backyard, Limetree frequently performed at $2 shows events, as did many of the aforementioned artists (see $2 shows in the NY Times). In 2008 Clare's manager, Richard Arlook, introduced him to Grammy-winning producer Gary Gold (Smokey Robinson, Howard Tate)—a George Martin-esque figure with whom Clare would form a close-knit bond over the next several years. That year, Limetree recorded their five-song Welcome EP at The Pass Studios in Los Angeles, after which Clare postponed his college departure to focus on the project. With the gradual dissolution of the original lineup, Clare was left to his own devices. Revisiting his dog-eared, high school copy of Cannery Row, he found inspiration in the sparse and earnest prose of John Steinbeck. Even Now (Parts One and Two), had been a tribute to Steinbeck’s timeless characters, a literary concept album of sorts, after which Clare’s songwriting turned inward. Upon spending two years recording Even Now in its entirety (and folding t-shirts at a local retail store), Clare moved to New York to pursue an education in music and science at The New School for Liberal Arts while he worked on new material. Having developed a friendly correspondence with the venerated Saddle Creek Records icon, Tim Kasher, Clare and Gold were later invited to record in Omaha, Nebraska with a roster of esteemed local musicians, including Clark Baechle (The Faint), Ted Stevens (Cursive), Patrick Newbery (Cursive), Landon Hedges (Desaparecidos), Matt Baum (Desaparecidos), Pat Oakes (Ladyfinger, NE), and Craig Dee (Tilly and the Wall), among others. The weeklong session resulted in Diegesis, a collection of songs that explore themes of identity as well as Clare’s personal history as a consciously introspective departure from Even Now. Diegesis was recorded at Another Recording Company, Engineered by A.J. Mogis, Produced/Mixed by Gary Gold, and Co-Produced by Tim Kasher, with additional string arrangements by Joan of Arc’s Nate Kinsella (aka Birthmark). In August of 2014, Clare released his first full-length album, Diegesis, featuring nine songs recorded in Spring 2013 in Omaha, Nebraska. Diego Clare is a singer-songwriter from Encino, California, living in Brooklyn, New York.