Clinic Bring Us Into the Future with “Refractions (in the Rain)”

It’s the latest single from “Fantasy Island,” out October 22 via Domino.
Clinic Bring Us Into the Future with “Refractions (in the Rain)”

It’s the latest single from “Fantasy Island,” out October 22 via Domino.

Words: Margaret Farrell

photo by Sentinel

October 18, 2021

This Friday, post-punk group Clinic are releasing their latest album on Domino called Fantasy Island. They’ve already shared the spacey, synthesizer-based “Fine Dining,” the disco-punk-freakout title track, and a cover of Ann Peebles’ “I Can’t Stand the Rain” for the follow-up to 2019’s Wheeltappers and Shunters. Today, Clinic shared the final single before the album’s release and it’s called “Refractions (in the Rain).”

“Refractions” feels like a trippy, synth-heavy take on 50s rock n roll. “’Take us into the future, say the people that play the music,” goes one lines. The retro vibe comes from the bluesy guitar line at the track’s center. It’s surrounded by woozy synths and a zombie organ as the vocals dictate the collapse of meaning and time. Later there’s talk about “words smitten with wonder” and “bygones and trigones frozen in time.” It all feels a bit groovy and odd—two categories Clinic are experts in.

Despite the spooky tone of this latest single, the band clarified that this album finds them looking “to a brighter future.” They continued: “It’s a very positive album, it’s more about what you can make happen rather than being defeatist.”

Listen to below “Refractions (in the Rain)” below, and pre-order Fantasy Island here.