Alex Clare - Too Close
Just over a month ago the career of Alex Clare, whose debut album 'The Lateness Of The Hour' was released to widespread critical acclaim in July last year, had reached a bit of a standstill.
Alex had returned to working for a friend as an estate agent and had put his music career he figured out his next move.
In the meantime he kept receiving emails asking if his single 'Too Close' could be used in a Microsoft ad. Eventually he agreed and thought no more of it. Fast forward to now and 'Too Close' has turned into a bona-fide worldwide hit single flying high in the charts in the US and the UK and topping the charts in Germany - with his full album peaking at #2 on the iTunes chart there last week.
Microsoft poured millions of dollars into a massive US ad campaign with 60-second spots broadcast during prime-time TV shows and in cinemas before major titles like "The Hunger Games." TV viewers and cinema-goers began Shazam-ing the song and searching for the track on YouTube and iTunes. By the week ending April 1, the song had debuted at No. 68 on the Hot 100, and had sold well over 100,000 downloads.
The Microsoft campaign was then launched in the UK three weeks ago and the track has now climbed to number 8 on the iTunes chart with the album rising to 24 giving Alex his highest chart positions just under a year after the album was first released.
The newfound attention comes nearly two years after the first sessions for "Lateness of the Hour" first began with Diplo and Switch in New Orleans.
The renewed interest in Clare's music has prompted the 26 year old Golders Green native to head back in the studio to start work on a planned new EP. A U.S. tour is also in the works.