The Wire #207 (May 2001) p66

LINDER STERLING & IAN DEVINE

Clint Eastwood, Clare Offreduccio and Me LAND LAND14 CD

By Louise Gray

Recorded under the umbrella project that is Linderland, Clint Eastwood, Clare Offreduccio and Me represents the overdue return of sometime vocalist Linder Sterling with guitarist Ian Devine. Last sighted together in the late 70s Manchester punk outfit Ludus, it was Sterling's input that ignited powerful and complex discussions about the female spectacle, her photomontages for various handbills and Buzzcocks sleeves making explicit connections between consumer and sexual fetishism.

Given Sterling's longstanding interest in blurring the genres of live art and musical performance, it follows that Clint Eastwood- is a far from run-of-the-mill production. Created as a site-specific Requiem staged in Manchester's near derelict Gorton Monastery, the shortish work is locked into the exploration of landscape and mythology that forms the heart of Linderland.

Working with grittily layered guitars over which Sterling triggers sound samples (such as snatches of Eastwood dialogue) and intones brief quotes from Shaker leader Ann Lee and St Clare Offreduccio, a contemporary of St Francis. The piece recalls the shifting soundscapes of Eno and Fripp's No Pussyfooting. While many of the CD's themes - in particular, the parrallels Sterling makes between the badlands of Spaghetti Western and north Manchester and the enduring interest in female divinity - are picked up in other Linderland works, this stands alone as a commendable experiment that can only broaden definitions of performance.