Clone are a band which operates in what’s rapidly becoming an antiquated model. They’re a unit of parts, egalitarian in their writing process, one where songs are built upon inchoate sparks offered freely by any member, and then they let the jams run free in their rehearsal space until there’s a complete song, guided by the alchemy of intuition. There’s no rule book here, and no one defining member, but there is a palpable chemistry. Formed from other successful bands in the Brooklyn scene they’ve started playing shows in summer of 2019, building their fanbase organically, brick by brick, but word of their incendiary live shows has been spreading and each time they play, more are won over.

CL.1 is their first LP and only 3rd release, and it’s a damn auspicious opening volley. Completely recorded and mixed by New York City legend Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Swans) at his famed BC Studios built by Brian Eno. Its sound captures the nascent verve of Warsaw especially in the icy timbre of the slashing guitar figures. Liziragga's eminently melodic, racing basslines, which are reminiscent of Peter Hook’s and locks in effortlessly with Giuffre's metronomic, economical drumming. Galleon’s vocals exhibit a range he never showed in Dead Leaf Echo, and they’re clearer than ever, as he urges with an unrepentant rage, “Tell me a story about how you’ll bore me.” He’s assuming awoman’s perspective, but his mind is androgynous--these feelings are universal. Confusion and anger are at the fore, but they’re a device used to convey the difficulties of finding any true human connectedness, which is appropriate, given the deterioration of communication in our increasingly anomic culture.

Ultimately, Clone are evocative, in ethos and ambition alone, of a time when bands still could change lives. They also believe in the galvanizing, redemptive power of music, the kind which used to be written for the lonely and the scarred and the diffident, before something truly was lost, something deeply enmeshed within the human psyche that could be shared. Clone are fitfully reclaiming this, which at its crux, is the imagination of youth. It’s captured vividly here, and their private universe of sonic exploration is now open to all.

They’re complete, in their purpose and in bond, and believe in themselves. Drift in with them, as the ride has only just begun.

The New York two-piece, WINKIE, offer up an arresting combination of grinding-, industrial-despair and swooning-, gothic-melodies… far down the abstract, avant-garde road... wrapped in an array of striking visual imagery. They often feel more like oblique performance art, or the darker edges of artists such as Killing Joke, The Cranes, Suicide, and The Jesus & Mary Chain.