Clipd Beaks: To Realize

On Clipd Beaks’ 2007 album Hoarse Lords, each mangled analog-synth whoop, feral vocal, and pick-stabbed bassline entered the mix as abruptly as a set of tire spikes. The band makes these and many other elements coalesce into one constantly mutating parachute on To Realize, and crawl under it like a group of vision-questers with the dry heaves. The abundant contrast here can sometimes get lost in the album’s hourlong plod: Flat lead vocals on the first half suit the weary, eerie mood but numb the overall effect, and there aren’t enough ghastly thrills like the guitar line that pins together the rhythms and atmosphere of “Blood.” The mid-point, “Atoms,” releases To Realize into an outback where Jodorowsky films seem to replace This Heat as the band’s spiritual guide. “On One” and the tellingly titled “Jamn” find grandeur in chaos and back into melodies that reassure as much as they disturb. To Realize refreshingly errs on the side of taking on too much new territory, and gives post-punk bands, noise ghouls, and psychedelic droners alike something to envy.