Clinical Investigator Offers Sounds That Won’t Anger

Roncesvalles & Grenadier, Toronto, Friday May 1, 2009

After years of composing impromptu non-lyrical free form neo-melodic metal ballads within the confines of a small studio space in the west end of Toronto, Clinical Investigator has decided to try things that might push a few more boundaries. Having formed it’s experimental ensemble in the winter of 1980, the members of Clinical Investigator have never been clear on what niche of the music industry they wanted to target, preferring instead to remain silent and local with their offerings, often not even playing their instruments or singing together during rehearsals over the last 29 years.

Regardless of their often insulated career, Clinical Investigator strives on, and brings us for the first time in their 29 years together their first major release called “Doesn’t Anger Me”, comprised of 29 songs for each year they have been together, playing fruitfully amongst the range of gypsy-callispo-funk, folk-rough-neo-classical to alterna-pop-swing-blues with a hidden track at the end of the record offering a dinner conversation had between one of the band members (whom will remain nameless to keep some mystery to the track), speaking to his cat. This track in particular has been receiving rave reviews across various fan blogs online, due to its often-riveting dialogue of purrs and whispers. When asked what prompted said track to be included on their first release, Leo & Eli, the two founding members of the ensemble both answer “without it, there would be no album. I mean the one thing that keeps us all, I think from getting too angry about our lives is our relationships with our cats. So at the end of the day, if we are going to put an album out there called “Doesn’t Anger Me”, then hell, we have to include the cats!”

When asked about the origin of their band name, Leo notes “We always liked the idea that one could investigate things seen as unemotional, cold and clinical, things that imply a lack of comfort. We often aim to find a lack of comfort in our music making, feeling like we hit our best notes when we are most agitated and challenged by what happens during our rehearsals. That’s how the album finally came to be really, because we’ve learned over these 29 years to find a place of peace with that discomfort we get from our music. It used to drive us crazy that we couldn’t make anything sound good, and now, well it “Doesn’t Anger Us” because we’ve made it the very basis of our sound!”

Listening to the album certainly drives this point to full fruition. There is a discomfort of sorts to their songs, one you have to sit with just long enough to find a calm, a sense of acceptance with. Once that is found, it’s hard to be angry with what Clinical Investigator is creating. This is one album that deserves more than one investigation.

Catherine Mellinger is a freelance reporter for Making Your Day Sporadically (previously Making Your Day Bi-Monthly) currently reporting from Toronto, Canada throughout the spring and summer. For more articles, please link to our blog at www.makingyourday.blogspot.com