David C Clements calls time a blessing and a curse. In the eight years since the release of his debut album, he has toiled through creativity’s long winters and now offers up ‘The Garden’, an 11-track alternative folk record featuring songs written with Iain Archer and Jacknife Lee.

In spending the best part of a decade writing and recording ‘The Garden’, Clements has “accidentally journaled” the key moments in his life. He began close to home with long-time producer Michael Keeney (Foy Vance, SOAK) in Bangor, County Down, meeting one evening a week to experiment with new songs. Under the guidance of Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol), Clements was encouraged to take his time, and to explore co-writing.

In 2018, he flew to California to the studio of Jacknife Lee (Snow Patrol, U2, The Killers) where deep outside his comfort zone, surrounded by vintage synths and fairy lights, ‘Life In A Bad Dream’ took shape. “Jacknife pushed me to be honest in my writing, to just say what I wanted to say instead of expressing myself through metaphor. It was only sitting in the airport on my way home that the penny really dropped, and I fell in love with this new take on a song I’d been sitting with for a while,” says Clements.

Collaboration with Iain Archer (James Bay, Snow Patrol, Noah Kahan) was auspiciously timed, first meeting in late 2019 to write ‘Contrast’. “I’ve been a fan of his for years and was really excited to work with him,” says Clements, “Iain has a real knack for connecting with people and drawing songs out of you.” When Clements met with Archer in March 2020 to work on ‘Little Outsider’, neither knew that it would be their last studio session for a while. Lockdown was “not compatible with the creative mind,” but the partnership continued from afar; Clements sending Archer melody ideas from under a duvet in his bedroom. Eventually, he set up a makeshift vocal booth in his garage, forced to pause every time a car drove by.

While life’s demands can get in the way of dedicating time to music, it is that same life that creates the stories that are shared within these songs. Clements and his wife welcomed a son. Beloved family members were lost; he met them again in dreams. He moved house, moved jobs, made friends, and lost touch with others. Songs were scrapped and new ones took root. His daughter was in pre-school when recording began; now she is about to finish primary school. Clements writes about empathy and escape, the mundane and the unmeasurable. “Been wandering round for years looking for the garden,” he sings on the title track.

Drawing from influences across indie folk and alternative rock, Clements cites Bon Iver, The National and James Vincent McMorrow as inspirations for The Garden. The album moves deftly through a musical backdrop that seamlessly melds electronic elements with the essence of folk instrumentation, with Clements’ unflinching vocals guiding listeners through themes of love, loss and belief.

Following the release of his debut album, ‘The Longest Day in History’ in 2016, Clements established himself as one of Northern Ireland’s most distinctive voices. In 2022, he stood in as lead singer of Two Door Cinema Club on their South American festival run. He was invited to Washington D.C. in 2023 to perform at the capital’s St Patrick’s Day Gala Concert, alongside James Vincent McMorrow, SOAK and Tolü Makay.

David C Clements performs in places as epic and ethereal as his musical offerings. Within the circular walls of Mussenden Temple, perched on the edge of a sheer cliff with the Atlantic Ocean below. In Belfast’s Central Church, his sold-out Christmas show has become an annual tradition; pews filled with listeners who hold Clements’ voice in reverence. If he sings it, they will come.

“There were times it felt like there was no finish in sight, just a constant climb to a theoretical summit,” says Clements of the time taken to complete the record. “‘The Garden’ is me trying to make sense of the guts of a decade. It was discovering in my own perfectly imperfect life that the ‘Garden’ isn’t something to be found, but something to be grown. It’s creating a life that will see me through the winters and allow me to bask in the summers.”