Clinic - Walking With Thee
(Domino)
Try as they might, American bands have never quite been able to capture the sound of brit pop. It's always been a losing battle, as the British air must lend an intangible ingredient to the mix, and those who come close merely rate as second-rate copies in the countries where success is a real possibility (i.e.: not the US). However, the magnates who decide the opinions of the American populace have a soft spot for the exotic, and, every so often, something like the Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" pops up on MTV in a showcase of that musical melodrama that's undeniably British. Clinic, a Liverpudlian quartet, tap into rock and roll tradition for their second album, Walking With Thee, but while the current popular revival is the dirty, no-frills rock of the '70s, Clinic mixes that flavor of the day with a taste much more recent: the sounds of late '80s/early '90s acts like The La's, Supergrass, and Charlatans.
Like it or not, it's hard to argue with Clinc's up-tempo pop. They've crafted an album that's fun and easy to sing along to, but anthemic in just enough places to inspire the proper reverence within the music press. Heck, they've already toured with Radiohead, and tracks like the rollicking "Harmony," "Welcome," and "Walking With Thee" are sure to incite the same fever in some as did their last two albums. Clinic know what they're doing, and whether or not anyone will see this album as anything more than a British attempt at the Strokes in ten years hardly seems to matter upon first listen. "Harmony" begins with a pulse that would make Mark Snow shiver before layering it with aching melodica, well-placed piano chords, and detached vocals. For the most part, the album follows the same formula: they take a buoyant beat, dirty guitar, and strains of old R & B, and add cooler-than-thou vocals and a bit (but just a bit) of an edge to it all. There are a few moments in which the atmospheric darkness of songs like "Come Into Our Room" muster up enough panache to deserve all of those Radiohead comparisons, but saying Clinic are the indie Radiohead is like saying Radiohead are the great saviors of experimental rock music...someone's just not looking at the big picture.
From what I can tell, Walking With Thee was released in the UK in March, and here in the US in early August. Don't blame Clinic or Domino if you haven't heard it yet; there's surely been enough hype behind them, they've got those Operating Room costumes, and their webpage has more old-school metal fonts and flashy shockwave menus than you can shake a stick (or other stick-like object) at. But, behind all of the bluster (and partially because of it), Clinic never manage to truly convince me. The songs, for the most part, are good, and I won't argue that point. But, there's too much on the album that makes Clinic sound like they've staked out the "cutting edge" in the American "indie" mainstream, tracks that are nearly picture-perfect despite the slightly "rough" edges that appear almost too intentional. Clinic have played the game well, but perhaps too well, for their best material is repeated over and over on the album, and one can't help but think Walking With Thee may have been better had it been half the length. In the end, the album's pretty nice initial ear candy, but upon closer critical inspection (the kind that we here at fakejazz.com do for free), Walking With Thee comes off feeling as mediocre as this review.
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