THE CLEAN Unknown Country CD

A couple years after the mediocre (by The Clean’s standards) Modern Rock, The Clean return with their most opulent release to date. Unknown Country is a treasure trove of moody pop gems that are also vehicles for their most adventurous arrangements. Now the guitars, keyboards, and drums are supplanted with thumb piano, mandolin, viola, and crow Theremin. Check out the experimentation of “Whisk,” the quasi-ethnic adventures of the two “Balkans” cuts, and the moodiness of “Indigo Blue” and “Franz Kafka at the Zoo.” Needless to say they can still toss off brilliant pop songs with an offhandedness that pretty much sums up their career. “Champagne and Misery” and “Changing Your Head” reaffirms this. But that’s no surprise, the surprise is this excellent reworking of an already proven chemistry. [Flying Nun]

-Tad Hendrickson

 AMAZON

This review from 1997 originally appeared in Your Flesh #35