Listening to the first track, “Harmony,” I am immediately reminded of John Carpenter’s theme music to “Halloween.” You know...that hollow, creepy piano melody that sounds like a perverse lullaby or a nursery rhyme gone bad. This is the first thing you hear when you start the record, and it really sets the tone for the whole listening experience. A catchy, looping bass line and sinister disco beat clash with this innocent melody to create a very edgy and subversive sound. The vocals drone on as a weak, yet anxious, presence, and a beautiful, almost middle-eastern, melody floats along the top to round-off the sound and give it an ancient, dreamlike quality.

Each song on Walking With Thee seems to function as a variation of the very distinctive and powerful sound as defined on the first track. The same piano that begins the album reappears with slightly different nuances throughout the record. The same beat takes on different lives in each song -- sometimes sounding ambient, sometimes more aggressive, sometimes very skeletal. Everything we hear in the first track comes back on the other songs in one form or another. You will hear variations of the same melody played on the piano, the guitar, the bass, etc...

Whereas some might criticize this “sameness” as a lack of imaginative song writing, I would argue that it brings a certain cohesive and intentional quality to the album and the band’s sound as a whole. The simplicity, the innocence and the repetition of themes creates the illusion of timelessness and tradition. In the world of contemporary British pop music, Clinic’s nervous energy and sinister electricity define a unique niche for the band.