Clinic - Do It!

Do It! (2008, Domino) Clinic's fifth studio album. ***1/2

Clinic have always been the darling artsy art-rock rockers whose music is honestly something that has to be experienced; not because it is so amazing that one will go into a coma after his first listen, but because they are a band with a startingly original sound. Is it acquired taste? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean they're incapable of writing songs that most people will 'get.'

Do It! is not all that different from Clinic's other albums. The strange ambient noises and distorted church bell rings are still present, but with each successive album the influences shift a tad. Here we find Clinic channeling their best emulation of Pink Floyd, as best expressed in the album's opener "Memories." The same crunchy riffs start off and Ade Blackburn's signature haunting vocal style - reminiscent of Lou Reed - are in full force. It echoes the days of Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and much of Do It! feeds off of this influence as well as Bob Dylan, as each album tends to be concerned with a style of some sort.

The Bob Dylan influence seeps through on "Tomorrow," featuring a strange twangy acoustic guitar. The album continues as the rest of Clinic's output; decent songs that are all relatively set at the same tempo and feature the same instruments, yet sound eerily different. It's a task not easy to do, and Clinic does it beatifully. Another highlight is "Free Not Free," a dreamy psychedlic song interrupted by terrifying guitar breaks. The ending is spectacular as well, as "Coda" is an instrumental (save for a few spoken lines) featuring a wonderful guitar solo by Hartley. As always, Clinic is wonderfully weird. (Tomorrow, Free Not Free, Coda)