Search - Clinic :: Visitations

Visitating

E. A Solinas | MD USA | 03/11/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Personally it was the surgical masks that first pulled me into Clinic.



But it was their tangled, intense art-rock that kept me listening to this strange little band. And their fourth album "Visitations" doesn't stray too far from the style Clinic has mastered in their previous albums, yet somehow it's still compelling, dense and just a bit unnerving.



It opens with "Family," a sort of stompy freakfolk anthem that veers along steadily without any big ups or downs. So, uh what makes it hypnotic? Ade Blackburn's distinctive (if rather mumbly) voice floating above the dense thicket of buzzy guitars and melodica, as he murmurs out lyrics about family, capture and whatever. I told you it was hard to understand.



But that doesn't make the music that follows any less excellent: the somnolent "Animal/Human" with its slow, circling melody, which is followed by sizzling slow-burning rock, ringing art-punk, murmuring freak-folk, and soaring indiepop in the shimmering "If You Could Read Your Mind." It closes on the title track, a suitably atmospheric song that makes me think of deserts, sunsets and stone-faced cowboys.



Yeah, their sound hasn't really altered over their entire discography. True. But on the other hand, Clinic sounds surprisingly refreshed, compared to the more lackluster "Winchester Cathedral," as if they've taken a long nap and woken up with renewed enthusiasm. There's more soul in this one.



The music itself is a glorious tangle of ringing guitars, simmering bass, and rippling melodica in some of the softer songs. It's dense, heavy and wild, like a thorny thicket. But it's also surprisingly hypnotic, since the melodies tend to circle themselves in a repeating loop, but they're complex enough not to sound repetitive. Instead, listeners get sucked in.



Ade Blackburn's voice is pretty distinctive too -- high-pitched, detached, and kinda stoned. But he has the vocal chops to rise above the simmering music, and he murmurs the lyrics almost like a chant. Basically, he fits into the music seamlessly, because his singing is just as hypnotically circular.



What could "Visitations" do without, though? Well, "Interlude" is basically just a half minute of creepy inarticulate whispers, and somehow the dense blasting of "Children of Kellogg" just didn't grab me. And I had to crank down the volume.



But "Visitations" is definitely a good return for Clinic, after a third album that was rather lackluster. Their cycling, eerie art-rock is definitely something to look out for."

A Mildly Disappointing Visit to the Clinic

R. Mix | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | 06/22/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I love the menace in Clinic's sound. Angular, harsh, disconcerting--all of them apply. It's as if the singer from ? & the Mysterions were fronting the Fall. And they're playing a voodoo club in Haiti whose walls and ceiling are painted glossy black, with only a few bare light bulbs for illumination.



Were it not for expectations being so high, I would find 'Visitations' just fine. But they are, and as a result, 'Visitations' suffers.



To hear what 'Visitations' could have been, cue up "If You Could Read Your Mind". The tinny, angular guitar line, the zither, the disembodied vocals (especially the 'whoops' in the chorus) and the maracas make this prime Clinic. It's Bo Diddley meets Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs. Perfect. But it's a peak they too seldom reach.



'Visitations' is an improvement over 'Winchester Cathedral', and you could do worse than to purchase this. (Ever heard of the Hold Steady or the Cold War Kids?) "If You Could Read Your Mind" will light up your iPod and MP3 players and amaze your friends. But comparisons with 'Walking With Thee' and 'Internal Wrangler' are inevitable, and 'Visitations' comes up just a bit short.











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