The Lateness of the Hour is Alex Clare’s debut album, released by Island Records. It peaked at 17 on the UK Albums Chart, eight on the German Albums Chart and at 48 on the US Billboard 200.
The majority of the songs on the album are about Alex’s personal relationships. When asked about the album’s biggest hit, “Too Close”, he said:
We were trying to figure out a concept that would sort of, you know, be feasible for a song that’s based on conflict between two people. And, you know, the way that manifested itself was people fighting.
So my A&R man is a man called Nick Huggett. Nick Huggett signed M.I.A. a couple years ago. When he made the M.I.A. record he got hooked up with Diplo. I really, really liked the Major Lazer EP and then they got ahold of my demos and asked about them. It ended up being a happy, happy marriage.
It actually wasn’t difficult to work with them at all. If there was a tug-of-war, it was not because of the technology but because if you’re working with dance producers, they’re always a DJ as well. So there were a lot of late nights involved in making Lateness of the Hour.
- Via MTV
For the first six months I was touring behind the record. Then I wasn’t doing very much at all. I went to Israel to hang out and go to school for a bit. I lost my record deal [with Island Records] when that happened. About a month after I lost my record deal Microsoft picked up my song for their campaign and things got really crazy.
- Via MTV