Rarely seen in public without their blood-spattered surgical gowns, Clinic do a perfect job of showing up today's indie scene as the drab, conformist place that it's sadly become. Unfortunately, this new album from the Liverpool quartet suggests that they don't quite have the music to give their startling visual image the backup it so badly requires. Walking With Thee is essentially an insubstantial blast of shrill, spiky art-pop that's brimming with invention yet remains oddly unsatisfying. Throughout its 38 minutes, Clinic come across as the Dr Frankensteins of rock, tearing their influences (Ennio Morricone, Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd) into small pieces and reconstructing them into clumsy, ugly shambling creatures that only an indulgent creator could love. There's no shortage of intelligence here, but it needs to be harnessed a bit better if Clinic are to realise their obviously massive potential.
