Pitchfork: Clinic Announce Release Date for New LP, Spring Tour

Clinic Announce Release Date for New LP, Spring Tour
SARS masks may no longer be necessary

Brian Howe & Ryan Schreiber report:
It's been a long time; they shouldn't have left you without a dope beat to step to. But they did, and for that, we demand recompense. It's awesome, then, that the band will be obliging-- and without even being asked-- as they return this summer with their third studio album (if you're not counting their early singles comp, which you aren't) and a pre-emptive tour. Indeed, after years of laying low and keeping all progress on the DL like rock 'n' rollin' Dick Cheneys, your favorite discriminating melodica devotees in surgical masks are about to make a triumphant return to the game.

Domino Records announced yesterday that the band's forthcoming full-length, provisionally titled Winchester Cathedral, is now officially slated for an August 23rd street date, as a co-release between Domino and Universal Records. The band's official website appears to have not been updated since this time last year, but maintains that there will be "a marked shift from the darker character of Walking with Thee" and "an overall deranged party feel to the music, broken up by several mellow Bread freakouts."

As previously reported, the band expects to make a giant leap from the sound of their previous releases, as "tape operator" Erasmus Benedict's rundown of the recording sessions revealed last year. One song was described as an "upright piano-led pop song with addled fuzz" and "reminiscent of 'The Night Chicago Died'"; one features "Shirley Ellis verses and a baroque chorus... almost includes a guitar solo"; another is said to be "slightly central European in character but with bar-room piano and massed percussion"; while still another is marked by "a mounting primeval rhythm with Brazilian overtones." Benedict also counted Sicilian guitar, marimba, finger cymbals, "psychedelic box," classical distorted organ, slide guitar, wind chimes and a bullwhip as among the instruments used during the sessions. We haven't received an updated tracklist since our last report-- which, mind thee, was published over a year ago-- but we'll give you now what we had then:

01 Thank You (For Living)
02 Circle of Fifths
03 Home #1
04 W.D.Y.Y.B
05 Anne
06 Clear Love
07 The Magician
08 The Majestic #2
09 Home #2
10 August
11 Vertical Take Off in Egypt
12 Country Mile
13 Stardust

And, to support the provisional new album that may or may not be released under the working title or a completely different one, with songs that could be the ones listed above but in an alternate order or entirely different songs (I mean, really, guys, mystique is one thing but for the love of Pete), Clinic will be launching a pre-emptive tour tomorrow night in Gothenburg, Sweden, which will take them through Turkey and Holland before they embark on a 14-date tour of the continental United States in May. Dates:

04-03 Gothenburg, Sweden - City Sound
04-04 Kagelbanan, Stockholm, Sweden - Accelerator Festival
04-06 Istanbul, Turkey - Manhattan Bar
04-17 Rotterdam, Holland - Motel Mozaique at Night Town
05-08 Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw
05-09 Washington, DC - Black Cat
05-10 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
05-11 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
05-12 Columbus, OH - Wexner Centre
05-13 Cincinnati, OH - Southgate House
05-14 Chicago, IL - Abbey Pub
05-15 Columbia, MO - Blue Note
05-17 Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck
05-18 Denver, CO - Bluebeard Theater
05-19 Salt Lake City, UT - Liquid Joe's
05-21 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's
05-22 Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory
05-23 San Diego, CA - Casbah