Clinic
"Walking with Thee"
(Domino)

The melodic pulse of " Harmony" kicks off "Walking With Thee", the anxiously
awaited follow-up to Clinic's 2000 debut statement, "Internal Wrangler".
.And after giving this record a couple of spins, there is no doubt in my
mind that "Walking With Thee" should result in legions of kids readying
their scrubs in anticipation of their first tour of the U.S. this Spring.

As "Harmony" segues into the second track, "The Equalizer", Clinic shows
that they have not completely abandoned the sound of "Internal Wrangler".
It sports the high pitched organ-fuzz and horns-gone-awry of their debut
record. The music once again oozes the urgency of post-punk, with late
70s/early 80s NYC staples Suicide coming to mind.

The title track drops the synthetic drums in favor of a more hard rock
approach, which Clinic quickly assimilates into their trademark
Wire-via-keyboards approach. The sound of the latest Clinic record is far
more varied than on "Internal Wrangler", and this is no more apparent than
on the sixth track, "Mr. Moonlight", with its Velvet-inspired guitar licks
and hypnotic bass lines. This sound is revisited once again on the album
closer, "For the Wars", which supplements the Velvet sound with Radiohead
vocal stylings.

Not since Joy Division has a band blended synth and punk so masterfully. As
a young band, it is refreshing to hear them expanding their sound without
losing the various textures that color the music as being distinctly Clinic.
With "Walking With Thee", Clinic have also managed to add more soul to
their music, something which failed to transfer accurately on "Internal
Wrangler" from song to song. The eleven tracks on "Walking With Thee" are
sequenced well, proving that the four lads from Liverpool are now thinking
on more of an album level than a song-by-song basis, elevating them to a
higher level as musicians.

-Karthik

Clinic
"Walking With Thee"
(Domino)

Sort of a synth/punk pop kind of thing mixed with spaghetti western, electronica, and new wave sounds, Clinic sounds like a more pop accessible version of the Troubleman Unlimited bands. The album opens with the spooky sounding 'harmony' with a keyboard opening seemingly grafted from the X-files soundtrack. 'The equaliser' throws a bossa nova drumbeat behind a sort of half spoken Lou Barlow kind of vocal. The album's title track, 'Walking With Thee,' is exceptional with a new wave keyboard part and early Dischord records 'No' chant chorus. Where I hear the Troubleman sound is on songs like 'Pet Eunoch' with abrasive guitars sporting that new 'no wave' sound. But they change their sound so easily, throwing the positively laid back 'Mr. Moonlight' right afterwards. The ethereal closer 'For theWars' features the most "singing" of the album and is a nice bittersweet song. Perhaps the charm of Walking with Thee lies in its seeming lack of flow, each of these songs is so different that they all stand out. I'm looking forward to listening to it again and again, at least until the next one comes out.

-Dan