Mike Clayton - "I Want What You Want"/"She Calms Down" 7"

Mike Clayton – “I Want What You Want”/“She Comes Down” 7”

Parasol, 1993

Acquired: Love Garden Shotgun Room, Used, 2007

Price: $.025

Parasol records put out a whole bunch of really great indie pop bands no one’s ever heard of in the mid 90s. Mike Clayton is a “guy with a guitar” sorta guy, and his short, simple songs sound like a poor man’s Elliot Smith. “She Calms Down” and “I Want What You Want” are nice little sensitive, heart-on-sleeve singer-songwriter tunes that don’t really stand out but are very pleasant. I THINK this 7” was released in 1993, but I only saw that on one site and it certainly SOUNDS like 1993 so I’m assuming 1993. It’s miraculous how few 7” records don’t list the damn year of release. Anyway, 1993 puts him a year before Elliot Smith’s debut Roman Candle, but then again maybe Clayton was from the Northwest and had seen Smith play some solo shows (I can’t find any information on the guy). Or maybe he was just making some sad, pretty songs on his own, not knowing that he was doomed to be compared to Elliott Smith. Apparently this was his only release (at least on Parasol).

Mike Clayton is not to be confused with the excellent 2007 film Michael Clayton. I've posted the trailer to that film because it is the only thing roughly "Mike Clayton-esque" on the internet.