Clinic

With a title like ‘Bubblegum’, and rumours of a more ‘pop direction’ you could forgive the trepidation of fans as they awaited the release of Clinic’s new album. What would happen to the spiky guitars? Was singer Ade Blackburn going to swap snarling for serenading? Were they going to...mellow?

First impressions, on opener ‘I’m Aware’, definitely hint that they might be mellowing. Dreamy psychedelic synths mingle with what can only be described as ‘sparkles’. And strings. But the acidic vocals are still there...and after my initial scepticism (at the sparkling) I enjoy it a surprising amount. The softness is again evident on track 3, ‘Baby’, but here Clinic overdo it. This is one of the album’s weak spots, a little too unconvincingly saccharine.
Matters are redeemed somewhat by track 4, ‘Lion Tamer’, a hearkening back to a more familiar Clinic sound – more energetic than the meandering preceding tracks, with a few fierce riffs of guitar and synth toughening things up. In this vein, final track ‘Orangutan’ could easily have come from their 2006 album ‘Visitations’...there is plenty to placate any old fans unconvinced by the new sound.

Elsewhere on the album, the woozy synths continue, as well as the organs familiar from other albums. Clinic are so often described as ‘eclectic’ and technically they are – there is a multitude of different sounds going on in there, a great deal of experimentation. Yet it rarely feels...spontaneous, despite the warmth of the instruments. It can sometimes feel almost (excuse the pun) surgical. A little sterile, if you will.

I’ve never been completely sure about Clinic, and this album fails to sway me either way. I should love them. I want to love them. But so much of this album fades into the background on first listening. It’s only after trying that you start noticing individual songs, and their impeccable construction (for example Milk and Honey, track 6, is a fantastic song, and probably my favourite on the whole album). It’s like the first time I ever saw Clinic live, when I had never heard them before. They came on, full of promise in their surgical masks, and I mentally rubbed my hands together in anticipation. Yes, I thought, these guys look interesting. The programme raved about them. Yet they stood stock-still in their masks, stared at the floor, and played an instantly forgettable set. I always think I’m going to be more impressed by Clinic than I actually am.

Perhaps this is too harsh. It’s a good album, after all, with commendable musical experimentation, and songs that when you look at them objectively are well-constructed and likeable. It’s a grower, and more accessible than many of their previous albums, but sometimes this is a weakness. Accessibility and blandness are bordered by a very thin line, one which they occasionally overstep. But amidst the hazy sonic blur are some great moments. I just wish Clinic had finally lived up to the hype, and made an album completely full of them - with a length of only forty minutes, it’s disappointing that this isn’t it.