Album Reviews

If there's one thing you can say about Clinic, it is that they are consistent. Normally, that's a very good thing. The more you make consistent, solid records, the more likely you are to sustain your fan base and your career. Yet for Clinic, it might be having the opposite effect. They've always been too arty for the mainstream, yet too mainstream (or perhaps still too esoteric for Joe Q. Hipster) to be adored by the underground, who champion such avant acts as Liars and Man Man.

Do It! is their fifth record since their debut back in 2000; then they felt fresh and new, a creepy alternative to the "rock revolution" acts of that year. Now we've come to expect a few things from Clinic based on their track record, and Do It! performs. Ade Blackburn's nasaly, near-whiney voice is still nasaly, still whiney, and comes off just as angsty as it was on 2006's Visitations. The essence of Clinic can be found in the third track, "Witch Hunt." It bounces along angular-ish guitar chords, like Clinic songs do, as Blackburn reveals details about some some unfortunate character's ongoing bought with paranoia. Again, there's nothing wrong with this per se—they're definitely honing in on a style that's comfortable. Moments out of that comfort zone pop up sporadically; "Free Not Free" is an almost ballad, gliding along over wah-wah sounding guitars, and "Corpus Cristi" has some interesting whispery vocals, giving it a slightly haunting feel that wanders just outside of their songwriting boundaries, making ti all the more interesting.

Clearly, Clinic are adept as song writers, cranking out their idiosyncratic albums with ease. But really, in this day and age of art-rock bands a-plenty, you'll have to do something more. To its audience, Do It suggests it might be time for a change, and, for Clinic, that things around them have already changed—maybe they should dig up that Aphex Twin catalog, for inspiration.

—Michael D. Ayers
04.09.08