Oh Clem! You Made a Great Album

For the man who once sang, “That was my ass you saw bouncing next to Ludacris,” Oh Smokey may come across as a more mature affair. For almost two decades, Eef Barzelay (who often records under the moniker Clem Snide) has written mordantly funny songs that thread the needle between the heartbreaking and the profane. Oh Smokey, Barzelay’s first record as Clem Snide since 2020’s Forever Just Beyond (produced by Scott Avett), is another collection of warm, mid-tempo tracks, but one that takes time to make its pleasures known. Originally released in the fall of 2024 but only at the merch table at Clem Snide concerts, as of May 2, Oh Smokey is available nationally on vinyl via Foreign Leisure. 

Backed by subtle musical augmentation from Josh Kaufman (of Bonny Light Horseman fame who also produces), each of Oh Smokey’s eight songs is a sad meditation on love, death, and the existence of God. Led by Barzelay’s distinct voice and quiet fingerpicking, these tracks are supplemented by tasteful flourishes such as hushed brushstrokes on drums, adding to their intimacy. Despite its departure from Barzelay’s more bombastic past efforts, Oh Smokey’s songs are still instantly recognizable as part of the musician’s distinct body of work in both lyrical content and feel.

“Calling all the sunbeams / Meet up in the breezeway / Gather in the naked light of God’s love,” Barzelay sings on album opener “Free.” These lines mirror Leonard Cohen’s invocation from “Anthem” — “There is a crack, a crack in everything/ That’s how the light gets in.” There is some dark material ahead, but Barzelay’s invocation opens the door (and the album) for God’s light to shine through. But Oh Smokey isn’t necessarily a devotional record. Instead, Barzelay appears to be asking for guidance through yet another round of existential dread. He will call out to God multiple times over the course of the record. “God won’t you meet me / Half the way” he asks on the quiet, “At Your Command,” which recalls the songs of Nick Drake. And in a sly reference to the Velvet Underground, Barzelay begins “All Was Revealed” with “I prayed for light / But only got heat.” 

Death is another primary theme that runs through Oh Smokey. “Airshow Disaster” imagines the end of a relationship in the most dramatic of metaphors, but it’s a gentle song that belies any melodrama. Barzelay has always had a penchant for lyrics and “I Evel Knieveled my way through it all” stands with his best. Meanwhile, “Angel Canyon (Song for Dan)” explores the inevitable end that comes for us all but with the thoughtful platitude: “May some sweet old song / Be the last thing that you hear.”

Oh Smokey plays like an extended lullaby, yet the album is anything but sleepy. Instead, Barzelay and Kaufman have crafted a record that will likely slip unfairly under the radar for many. Tonally confident and kindhearted, Oh Smokey feels more personal than any Clem Snide record that has preceded it as Barzelay measures doubt and gratitude equally in this fine collection of songs.

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