Album: Clinic, Bubblegum (Domino)

Bubblegum marks something of a shift for the always inventive Clinic: with its reliance on acoustic guitars and understated accompaniments, it has more of a folksy approach, the pastoral obverse to their usual surging psych-rock grooves.

With its shining strings and graceful, warm harmonies, the opener "I'm Aware" seems to exist in a campfire glow, as Ade Blackburn mumbles ominously, as if through clenched teeth, "In the dark, you're never done/ In the dark, you die for us". Only the occasional astringent guitar line or razoring shaft of electronic noise punctures the calm of psych-folk lullabies like "Linda", "Baby" and "Bubblegum" itself, in early Pink Floyd manner, while the harder fare is restricted to the restrained marimba motorik of "Evelyn" and the rumble of the feisty "Lion Tamer".

DOWNLOAD THIS I'm Aware; Lion Tamer; Un Astronauta En Cielo