The Clover - Processes

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  • House music may be 30 years old, but the question of how best to approach the house music album is still unresolved. You might even argue that, as a genre, it is unsuited to the format. Yet a minority of mostly leftfield producers—The Clover being a prime example—seem unbothered by this dilemma. The Florentine trio are capable of delivering cohesive albums that evolve elegantly, like well-structured DJ sets. On Processes, they jam out heady, psychedelic house, guiding you confidently through the various iterations of their sound. Opener "Black Hole" is The Clover at their most tripped-out—it seems to slide diagonally through the stereo spectrum. "The Gash," a grimey cluster of tinpot percussion and slithering, snarling bass, is similarly lo-fi, as is "Break 4 Luck," a collaboration with San Proper whose beats stutter and break apart. This is house music post-American Noise: stripped-back, raw and deliciously strange. Though Processes starts out in a primeval swamp, something rather more polished rapidly emerges. There is a winning internal logic to how, by the time you reach "Phoenix," the jazz, disco and funk influences of the earlier tracks have coalesced into something sleeker. "Glimmer Of Light," a twinkling flurry of piano, liquid guitar and funky, elasticated bass, could be a clever re-edit of an old Sade track. After that, the tempo increases again and Clover get gloriously freaky. "Dorf" and "Rolling Down The Hill" trade in a slippery, cosmic funk that is equal parts Parliament, Krautrock, minimal techno and acid house. It all whets your appetite to see The Clover live, and is in its own right an unusually confident album. Unpacking it is a pleasure.
  • Tracklist
      01. Black Hole 02. The Gash 03. Jungle Man 04. Break 4 Luck feat. San Proper 05. Phoenix 06. Celestial Fog 07. Glimmer Of Light 08. Dorf 09. Rolling Down The Hill 10. Orange Dreams 11. Kites (Digital Exclusive) 12. A Slide On Your Skin (Digital Exclusive) 13. The Cage (Digital Exclusive)
RA