On July 26th the top-ranking leftfield star Clark will release ‘Kiri Variations’, via his own label Throttle Records – and as always, he has musically metamorphosized into something fresh and new.
This album of plaintive beauty, eerie wyrd arcadian horror and childlike outsider music epitomises his constant ability to flip-the-script and coherently organise an abundance of new ideas.
Mysterious and morbidly beautiful pieces driven by piano, harpsichord, clarinet, strings, electronics and voice are interspersed with fabulously unusual and highly original curveballs:
Odd-in-a-brilliant-way, the faux naïve ‘Kiri’s Glee’, evokes traveling minstrels of yore accidentally eating the wrong ‘shrooms, and ‘Coffin Knocker’ has diffracted psych feel, like David Axelrod’s work with the Electric Prunes, but chopped, screwed and scorched.
‘Forebode Knocker’ is darkly funky, like the kind of lost diggers’ nugget unearthed and sampled by RZA, whilst the sonically-perfect ‘Primary Pluck’ unfurls exquisitely, swaying slowly ever forward like a funeral march.
‘Cannibal Homecoming’ is nothing short of Clark’s most song-based composition ever, featuring augmented human voice as evident elsewhere and also a fully-fledged vocal sung by him.
‘Kiri Variations’ started life as the score to the BAFTA-nominated TV program ‘Kiri’, but only a small (and highly effective) portion of the music recorded was used – intentionally sparingly – by director Euros Lyn. That first incarnation has since grown and morphed intosomething entirely of its own being; a proper artist album.
“In addition to my usual methods of controlled randomness and tangential ideas, the TV commission was a prominent spark for new approaches. It’s a great balancing contrast with the solipsistic studio album”, Clark explains.
The record allows simplicity and playfulness to shine through: “It’s a skeleton of an album, reduced to bare essentials, although it started out rather dense - the thing that takes time is making it succinct."explains Clark. “Certain parts are also what you could call anti muso – for example the recorder on ‘Kiri’s Glee’ is totally out of tune – but it sounds so colourful. I can’t resist the primary paint of acoustic instruments; it’s an antidote to frictionless digital music.
Tracklist :
A1 Forebode Pluck
A2 Simple Homecoming Loop
A3 Bench
A4 Kiri's Glee
A5 Coffin Knocker
A6 Forebode Knocker
A7 Yarraville Bird Phone
B1 Primary Pluck
B2 Flask / Abyss
B3 Tobi Thwarted
B4 Cannibal Homecoming
B5 Banished Hymnal
B6 Banished Cannibal
B7 Goodnight Kiri
PRIVATE LISTEN LINK: https://soundcloud.com/throttleclark/cannibal-homecoming
Pitchfork: (on home page)
https://pitchfork.com/news/clark-announces-new-album-kiri-varations-shares-cannibal-homecoming-listen/
Resident Advisor (on homepage): https://www.residentadvisor.net/news/44012
Clash: https://www.clashmusic.com/news/clark-announces-new-album-kiri-variations
The 405: https://www.thefourohfive.com/music/article/experimental-electronic-veteran-clark-announces-new-album-reveals-dramatic-new-single-cannibal-homecoming-156
XLR8R: https://www.xlr8r.com/news/clark-returns-with-soundtrack-inspired-new-album
Brooklyn Vegan: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/28-new-songs-out-today-3/
The Line Of Best Fit: https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/latest-news/clark-announces-new-record-with-vocal-led-single-cannibal-homecoming
Tiny Mix Tapes: https://www.tinymixtapes.com/chocolate-grinder/premiere-clark-cannibal-homecoming
Exclaim: http://exclaim.ca/music/article/clark_returns_with_new_album_kiri_variations_shares_new_song
UK Radio - BBC 6Music plays from Mary Anne Hobbs, Gideon Coe, Tom Ravenscroft
Published: 2nd July 2019