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The Clean | Getaway

At best an average album.
CD, Matador/Konkurrent

Tekst: Alex Tobin

Publicatiedatum: 21 augustus 2001

David and Hamish Kilgour, joined by Robert Scott, are the Clean, one of New Zealand's pioneers of the post-punk guitar sound. Hailing from Dunedin, the band have duly influenced seminal bands of the rock intelligentsia - bands such as Pavement, Superchunk, and Guided By Voices. It's one mean cv they've managed to build up, extracurricular activities and all: Scott is also an alumnus of the Bats and Electric Blood, while Hamish Kilgour also doubles as a member of Bailter Space and the Mad Scene. Now, with 'Getaway', the Clean return with a comeback album of sorts. Their third. It seems that, as every five or six years go by, the Clean are back with yet another return to the fray. 'Getaway' is a well-done little affair, but you tend to miss the feeling that there's a fire burning deep in the empty gut of a young and ambitious musician. The occasionally drone-infused mantras that comprise a good chunk of the album don't really go anywhere. The instrumentation is sparse, leading things to sound rather monotonous at times. Half of the songs are far too long, ambling on for no particular reason, while the other half are more like short fragments, shards of actual compositions. Released in the US on Superchunk's own label Merge, the sad fact remains that the Clean don't attain the stellar heights of their protégés often enough. The wit and the humour of bands such as Pavement is clearly missing, and - contrary to the record company bio, claiming that "the rest of the rock world is still struggling to keep up" - 'Getaway' is at best an average album.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/the-clean/getaway/949/
Meer The Clean op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/the-clean