Recorded at Parr Street Studios, Liverpool, England.

WALKING WITH THEE was nominated for the 2003 Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Music Album.

Clinic's early singles and their first album focused on a tightly wound, keyboard-driven style that sounded much like a cross between early Stereolab and the great Velvet Underground-inspired New Zealand pop bands of the 1980s such as the Clean and the Chills. For 2002's WALKING WITH THEE, the British four-piece chose to dial back on both the reverb and the feedback, as well as the relentless forward momentum of their earlier material, in favor of a quieter, less frenetic sound. Most of the songs are still urgent, particularly "The Equalizer" and the galvanizing title track, but with less static decorating the songs, their melodic strengths come through. Elsewhere, mellower songs such as the hypnotic opener "Harmony" and the ghostly "Come Into Our Room" move Clinic's sound in interesting new directions. At a time when a number of other bands were suddenly discovering Clinic's earlier hyperactivity and rhythmic chug, WALKING WITH THEE shows the group expanding beyond a sound that could easily have become a cliché.

Right down to its gritty, mod-punk art direction, Walking With Thee seems like it should fit right in with Clinic's previous work. Indeed, the group's second full-length album could've been a carbon copy of their debut, Internal Wrangler, but to Clinic's credit, the band makes a few changes, opting for a smoother production and a quieter, more implosive sound than their previous work offered. Frustratingly, though, most of these changes end up detracting from the group's strengths and diluting the album's impact. Walking With Thee's production is far from slick, but a huge part of Clinic's appeal was that the band seemed to record in an underwater garage, giving their songs a fuzzy, cavernous sound that made their messy, thrashy moments even more dangerously alluring and their ballads that much more affecting. Stripped nearly bare of reverb and static, much of Walking With Thee sounds incomplete, particularly on the almost-punk of "Pet Eunuch," "Welcome," and "The Equaliser," which, with its rattling percussion and driving bassline, could've rivaled Internal Wrangler's ugly-beautiful intensity if had a little more oomph. However, the album isn't a total washout -- for every lackluster moment, there's one that connects. "The Vulture" and "Walking With Thee" nearly reach the frenzied, strangely sexy, bottom-dwelling heights (depths?) of Clinic's best work. And beginning with the chilly, hypnotic opener, "Harmony," many of the album's quietest moments are the most compelling. Filmic tracks like "Come Into Our Room" and the dreamy finale "For the Wars" follow suit, though their brooding, stark sound will only strengthen the Radiohead comparisons. There's a lot of promise on Walking With Thee, but nothing here touches the deadpan cool of Internal Wrangler's "The Second Line," the detached poignancy of "Distortion," or the raw energy of "Second Foot Stomp." The band sounds like they're still figuring out how to make the urgency of their previous work jell with a more polished, experimental sound, which makes Walking With Thee not so much a progression or regression as a step sideways. Clinic is still one of the most intriguing acts around, and while this isn't the masterpiece the band has the potential to deliver, an interesting disappointment from them is still better than a successful but boring album from a less-inspired group. ~ Heather Phares

Clinic's early singles and their first album focused on a tightly wound, keyboard-driven style that sounded much like a cross between early Stereolab and the great Velvet Underground-inspired New Zealand pop bands of the 1980s such as the Clean and the Chills. For 2002's WALKING WITH THEE, the British four-piece chose to dial back on both the reverb and the feedback, as well as the relentless forward momentum of their earlier material, in favor of a quieter, less frenetic sound. Most of the songs are still urgent, particularly "The Equalizer" and the galvanizing title track, but with less static decorating the songs, their melodic strengths come through. Elsewhere, mellower songs such as the hypnotic opener "Harmony" and the ghostly "Come Into Our Room" move Clinic's sound in interesting new directions. At a time when a number of other bands were suddenly discovering Clinic's earlier hyperactivity and rhythmic chug, WALKING WITH THEE shows the group expanding beyond a sound that could easily have become a cliché.