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Not since the late Great Mutant Skywheel has such a detectably educated assembly of talented musicians provided an entertainment factor commensurate with the impressive pedigree... redolent of Stereolab, Lamb, and Mono, with comparably crisp hi-fi (truthfully, the entire production here is beyond reproach, remarkably by the band itself) ... when the twins switch off the synths and open those violin cases, they may as well conceal tommy guns.

Stone Scruggs
Music Monthly
05.27.05


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Music Monthly | March 2005

Music Monthly

March 2005

by Stone Scruggs

Saskatch EP CD Review

Ya'll been schooled. Not since the late Great Mutant Skywheel has such a detectably educated assembly of talented musicians provided an entertainment factor commensurate with the impressive pedigree. Our loss, then, that DC's Exit Clov entered the market two years ago, just past their Baltimore equipollent's expiration date. What a double bill that would have been. One can scarcely idle at a stoplight by Monument (the street and the statue) in Mount Vernon without witnessing an Asian girl carrying her chosen instrument-bearing case to and fro Peabody. One can idly imagine the potency of a mid Atlantic music scene if said students all took their classical training and traditionally classical violins and joined a modern minded progressive pop band.

This is the quartet's second release. The debut got them nominated for a WAMA. This EP should win it. Actually, either "movement" (my conception) - the first four tracks, or the last - is worth the price of admission exclusive, even, of the other. Both are redolent of Stereolab, Lamb, and Mono, with comparably crisp hi-fi (truthfully, the entire production here is beyond reproach, remarkably by the band itself) and pleasant dual harmonies from the Hsu sisters, as impressive vocally as anything by the aforementioned trio of electro lounge acts. But when the twins switch off the synths and open those violin cases...they may as well conceal tommy guns. The staccato double blast at the denouement of the title track is certainly more effective than anything on Kansas's Point of No Return; the accompanying prog rock incursion as grin inducingly listenable as anything on Yes's Fragile. Rush's entire catalogue is arguably up for usurpation by the nascent Clov, even.

Ambitious? Whatever the group's goal, it's been achieved.


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