Review
Clinic's tenth album lands on Domino five years after their last record, and it arrives from a band that now runs entirely on the partnership of Ade Blackburn and Jonathan Hartley. Nothing about it tries to reposition them. Exotica percussion, dub-weighted bass and the stiff clatter of drum machines sit under vocals that deliver absurd lines with a deadpan grin, and the sound stays recognisably theirs.
The brevity is the first thing to notice. Twelve songs fit into just under half an hour, and most end before the idea has time to settle. Verses get dropped to keep things moving, which gives the sequencing a forward lean. "Model Citizen" rides a loping, Specials-adjacent bassline, "Energies" edges toward a dancefloor pulse, and "Well Wisher" closes the record with a theatrical keyboard turn.
Not every listener will hear this economy as generosity. Some may find the record slight. The better reading is that the restraint is the point: Clinic treat the fringe as a place to work, and this album shows them doing it without hurry.
