After returning from their lengthy hiatus with the unsettling and politically charged
Wheeltappers and Shunters, perhaps the most surprising thing
Clinic could do was to look on the bright side. Recorded in 2019 soon after
Wheeltappers' release -- and named for another '70s TV show --
Fantasy Island's trippy escapism feels like the flip side of its predecessor's deceptive nostalgia. Coming from an act whose usual mode is ominous inscrutability, the album's notably lighter atmosphere lets them be uncanny in new ways. There's more than a hint of unreality when
Ade Blackburn sings "your love is a miracle" on "Miracles"' campy exotica. The band, now down to the duo of
Blackburn and Jonathan Hartley, came into some new-to-them vintage gear before recording
Fantasy Island, and the giddy glee of playing with new toys takes the album to curiouser and curiouser places. Omnichords sparkle like pixie dust and laser-like tones add pew-pew punctuation to the band's signature stomp on "Fine Dining." On "Take a Chance," where
Blackburn invites his audience to "peek in the jar if you like," the synths are so blobby they should be in a lava lamp. The eccentricities reach a peak with "Grand Finale"'s extraterrestrial Spaghetti Western theme, but even the relatively restrained cover of
Ann Peebles' classic "I Can't Stand the Rain" boasts a synth solo straight out of '70s electronic novelty pop. Frequently, the trippiest trips into
Fantasy Island's dazzling yet slightly gaudy world are the most rewarding. Along with the transporting sample pastiche of "On the Other Side...," the melding of dub, surf, and disco on "Refractions in the Rain" is an utterly hypnotic highlight of
Clinic's latter-day work. As it comes to a close,
Fantasy Island's songs help listeners make sense of what came before without sacrificing any of the album's weirdness. The band comes full circle on "Feelings," which bridges the gap between the shuffling beat of
Internal Wrangler's "The Second Line" and the lysergic dance leanings of
Free Reign, and delivers psychedelic summer visions on the all-too-brief groove of "Hocus Pocus." Sometimes beguiling, sometimes bewildering,
Fantasy Island is a strange album even by
Clinic's standards. While it's hard to shake the feeling that its sunny vibes are just a mirage, it's still immensely entertaining for anyone game to follow the band into their oddest musical terrain. ~ Heather Phares