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Clinic Stars are a dreampop duo from Detroit
who have recently joined the roster at the
excellent record label Kranky. That is enough
to draw my attention to this act and listen to
their promo when it came through the
EvilSponge offices, and I am glad that I did.
Clinic Stars make a light, hazy music with
hushed vocals and guitars fed through a ton of
pedals.
There is an obvious question here, so let's
cut this off at the head. The band has nothing
in common with or any kind of connection with
either noisy rock act Clinic
or pop band Stars. It's just a naming
coincidence and not a fusion of those two
bands.
Instead, I would say that Clinic Stars
channel Cocteau Twins,
and do it pretty well. The songs are made out
of layers of bass, guitar, and drum (machine?)
that really feel like CT to me, especially on
the drums. The drums are often a flat tight
hit, echoing at the end, and there is a lot of
percussion (I think they use a cymbal tap)
that echoes when Robin Guthrie was obsessed
with a sleigh bells sample and it was in
almost every song from Head
Over Heels to the Love's
Easy Tears EP three years later.
The vocals, on the other hand, are completely
different. Giovanna Lenski sings in a whisper,
her voice buried, as opposed to the powerful
howl of Liz Fraser. Different voices, but both
used well for what they are doing. Lenski's
singing style reminds me slightly of Hope
Sandoval in Mazzy Star, but Lenski is even
more hushed, more buried in the mix.
The album kicks off with Kissing Through
The Veil, which is driven along by a
nice bass beat, tapped drums, and rolling
guitars. Lenski's voice is a whisper, faint,
letting the instruments talk.
On Only Hinting the guitar chugs like
Guthrie in 1985 as the drum is a thick thud,
like CT's old drum machine. Boy, this takes me
back. Very lovely.
They start the third track, I Am The
Dancer, with a whirr of guitar noise,
more Flying Saucer Attack
than CT. Eventually
it settles down into acoustic guitar thrumming
along with some faint keys, Lenski singing in
her hushed voice. The acoustic strum and the
whispered voice really channel Mazzy Star
vibes.
Remain, on the other hand, really
channels Cocteau
Twins. It has a shaking percussion, flat
tight drums, and the guitar just echoing on
forever. Both Lenski and her collaborator,
Christian Molik, add vocals here, his voice
adding a faint layer. It's a nice effect, and
I really like the chugging guitars on the
choruses.
She Won't Be begins with a pulsing
sound that reminds me a little of Loscil,
or maybe Biosphere,
before the guitars come in. In this song, one
guitar layer chimes and the other whirrs, all
underpinned by shaking percussion and a nice
bass riff. The whirring guitar reminds me of Mira, which is a
nice touch. When I listen to this record on
headphones, this song always makes me stop and
look to see what the title is. It's just
great.
They really channel mid 8os Cocteau Twins on
Shiver (Walking Over Time), the drums
here especially. However, on Isn't It,
the guitar keeps a forceful riff that reminds
me of Robin Guthrie's
current solo work. Clinic Stars pair
that with a nice, rolling bass riff.
And finally we end the record with Thoughtless.
The guitars here are bright, positively
shimmering in a way that reminds me of
Antarktica.
I really like this record. It seems like it
is made up of elements taken from a dozen
artists I like, all mixed up a little, covered
with some fuzzy distortion. But that is not to
say that this music feels derivative. I think
it sounds fresh – a new take on these sounds.
And I really look forward to more from Clinic
Stars.
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