Yet another band ripped from the pages of the Neon Bible, Clues are a supergroup of Montreal musicians working very much in the shadow, and the studio, of Arcade Fire. So yeah, this is a bunch of multi-instrumental French-Canadians singing portentous songs by candlelight, and building into a clatter of mardy-God thunder. It’s almost parodic in places; lines like “At the fountain of truth we drink the questions down” (from ‘Approach The Throne’) try desperately to be Loaded With Meaning. Yet get past the grating AF-isms and there’s some good tunes. ‘Perfect Fit’ is stripped-down Sparks, ‘Cave Mouth’ captures the chaotic blues-funk of Captain Beefheart and ‘Crows’ is like PJ Harvey using her ‘White Chalk’ voice on a ‘Dry’ song. Worth persisting with.
Martin Robinson
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