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CLINIC

Clinic

Fantasy Island

    On their vibrant and eclectic ninth studio album Clinic, the band who wore surgical masks before it was a matter of urgency, are taking you to Fantasy Island, where you will find yourself transported to tropical climes.

    In Hartley’s words: “Clinic look to a brighter future, [Fantasy Island] it’s a very positive album, it's more about what you can make happen rather than being defeatist.”

    Their last album, 2019’s Wheeltappers and Shunters, found the band satirising British culture and wallowing in sleazy Seventies nostalgia. Fantasy Island was recorded in an old studio on Merseyside during the summer of 2019, with good vibrations seeping into the grooves. This time they are embracing “the idea of looking at the future and the different ways it can unfold”, with their most electronic and pop record to date. “It’s a more global, international and outward looking record,” says Hartley. “Clear blue horizons. The brave new world!”

    The album was mixed last year by Claudius Mittendorfer, who has worked with Parquet Courts, Neon Indian and many pop greats.

    STAFF COMMENTS

    Barry says: Clinic take their trademark post-punk psychedelic groove into new territories with their latest outing, 'Fantasy Island'. Part outsider electronica, part woozy psychedelic groove and entirely wonderful, it's a perfect listen for the times we live in.

    TRACK LISTING

    1. The Lamplighter
    2. Fine Dining
    3. Take A Chance
    4. Refractions (In The Rain)
    5. Dreams Can Come True
    6. Miracles
    7. On The Other Side…
    8. Fantasy Island
    9. I Can’t Stand The Rain
    10. Feelings
    11. Hocus Pocus
    12. Grand Finale

    Wheeltappers and Shunters was recorded in 2018 in founding band member Hartley's Liverpool studio, before they brought in Dilip Harris (King Krule, Sons Of Kemet, Mount Kimbie) to mix it. “We thought it felt right to make a fun, dancefloor album in these dark and conservative times,” Blackburn continues. Fun, sure, but this is Clinic – their brand of fun oozes with menace.

    The Great Britain that Clinic are evoking is not that ancient, bucolic past of village green cricket, half a mild and hanky-waving Morris Dancers that many seem so determined that the country should return to, but a rather more sleazy past. Clinic’s reverie is for a time when Blackpool was the pleasure capital of the kingdom and the public was kept entertained by travelling circuses and the dirty glamour of the funfair; tacky end of the pier merriment and enforced fun at Butlins; when bell-ringing town criers bellowed their nonsensical broadsides into the ether.

    For most bands about to enter their third decade as an entity the well would be running dry, but eight albums in and Clinic still retain the ability to surprise. Clocking in at just over 28 minutes, Wheeltappers and Shunters is an absolute blast, rich in detail and sonic intrigue, those precious minutes stuffed with ideas. “We’d released albums like clockwork every two years, so it seemed natural to have a break,” Blackburn reveals. “It allowed everyone to do some quite oddball stuff, away from Clinic. I think we all wanted a bit more freedom.”

    STAFF COMMENTS

    Barry says: Comfortingly warm and brilliantly varied, 'Wheeltappers and Shunters' perfectly treads the line between jagged, unpredictable psychedelia and smoothly redolent rock music, with enough of an edge to remain interesting and the perfect amount of sweetness to keep the listener fully on-board. Lovely.

    TRACK LISTING

    1. Laughing Cavalier
    2. Complex
    3. Rubber Bullets
    4. Tiger
    5. Ferryboat Of The Mind
    6. Mirage
    7. D.I.S.C.I.P.L.E
    8. Flying Fish
    9. Be Yourself/Year Of The Sadist
    10. Congratulations
    11. Rejoice!
    12. New Equations At The Copacabana 


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