Bubblegum

iTunes Review

Clinic’s sixth album in a decade finds the Liverpudlians trading in some of their lysergic accoutrements for slightly easier, poppier stylings. As the title might imply, the songs here are lighter than Bubblegum’s psych-pop predecessors: opening track “I’m Aware” swirls and drifts with a gentler guitar sound and willowy strings, and others — like the sweet, sanguine “Baby” and the acoustic-flavored “Forever (Demis’ Blues)” — evoke ‘60s names like the Zombies and Donovan, rather than the Velvet Underground or the Seeds. Clinic do get their psych-groove on, however, with colorful guitar pin-wheeling, surreal clouds of dulcimer and chugging wha-wha on tracks like “Evelyn,” “Another Way of Giving,” and “Orangutan,” and they kick out the jams on harder tracks like “Lion Tamer.” Instead of writing songs based on a rhythm or a groove as they’ve done in the past, here the band began with specific melodies and chords; it’s that focus on the whole of a song that gives Bubblegum its delightful — but never sweet or cloying — vibe that recalls the magical days of AM radio.