Whether due to these inherent limitations or simply his own inclinations, Palmer did not explore the outer limits of synth-rock in Clues. Instead, he developed a hybrid of modern rock, blue-eyed soul and future pop, sharpening his hooks so that the music is direct even as it flirts with the interior. Palmer was interested in aesthetics, not avant-garde. all the electronics give the music shape and texture. The increased acoustic clarity accentuates Palmer's honed melodies while also covering the record with a modern facade that pushed Clues slightly left of center in the mainstream in 1980.
Considering the deliberate chill that Clues exudes, it's easy to overstate the influence Numan had on the record, placing him as the Brian Eno to Palmer's David Bowie. The synth-rocker only appears on one cut Cluesa cover of Numan's dystopian ballad 'I Dream of Wires' and co-wrote another song, 'Found You Now', an exercise in Moroccan funk. Numan passed by Compass Point on his way to Japan and his presence Clues it also feels oddly fleeting; is responsible for the colorful accents, not the underlying structure.
It's possible that Numan's synths led Palmer to create “Johnny & Mary,” the album's ultra-eerie first single. The song seems to emerge from the electronic ether, a story of a romance that has languished in a cycle of co-dependency, to a circular melody of minor importance. Many of the stories are left untold and, fittingly, parts of the arrangement seem missing, its nocturnal pulse punctuated by patches of chorus and shards of guitar. It's so spare, it can still look amazing, capturing the feeling when the promise of the future begins to fade.
“Johnny & Mary” finds a companion in “Looking for Clues,” a haunting piece of funk whose modernism is informed by Talking Heads. Indeed, Heads drummer Chris Frantz, a friend and neighbor of Palmer's from Nassau, plays percussion on the track, Palmer returning the favor to Talking Heads' Stay in the Lightwas released a few months later Clues. Franz noted in his memoirs that “Robert appreciated the value of a good rhythm section,” reflecting Palmer's unusual compositional process. Palmer told Fricke in 1979: “I'm putting a groove on the drums and trying to think of a melody to sing.” His cover of “Not a Second Time,” a song taken from With the Beatlesit was also the result of his first approach to rhythm – once he had the rhythm in place, he realized that the deep Beatles track was a good melodic fit – yet “Not a Second Time” is also indicative of the fact that Clues doesn't strictly adhere to synth rock. When Palmer covered Numan in concert, he also performed a version of the Pretenders' “Kid,” a sign that he had tapped into the more melodic side of new wave.
