Clark - Death Peak

Clark, aka Chris Clark, has been making dark, ambient electronic music since the early 2000's.  I first caught on to him around the time he started going under the Clark moniker, and the release of his "Body Riddle" album.  I thought this was a solid intro to the Clark moniker.  A handful of the shorter songs seemed a little incomplete to me, but the rest of the material here showed Clark as a an electronic artist ready to start making some waves.  Plus, there was a little bit of everything here to the more up front and funky "Matthew Unburdened", to the MUCH darker and almost drone influenced "Herzog".  2008'S "Turning Dragon" however, wasn't much of an improvement.  It was actually a back step for Clark.  As opposed to his usual more ambient music, "Turning Dragon" was mostly a techno album, a really bland one at that.  Some of the later, more experimental moments were better, but still I expected so much more.  2009's "Totem Flare" got me really excited when I first heard some of the tracks, Clark was certainly going back in the much more experimental direction.  But it was almost a little too gimmicky for my liking, to the point where it came off as a really fucking corny Nine Inch Nails ripoff most of the time.  2012's "Iradelphic" was Clark's strangest album yet, switching over from electronic music to more experimental music with live instrumentation.  It was once again, just OK.  It had been a real long time since I heard anything truly awesome from Clark. Clark did start to get his footing back on the "Feast/Beast" compilation of remixes.  The material was fine, but of course it was all made up of remixes one way or another.  I was happy with the results still, but I needed some new, defining solo work from Clark.  And in every way, I got that with his 2014 Self Titled album.  This album was pretty damn fantastic, focusing much more on ambient tunes as well as a monolithic atmosphere.  There were still plenty of IDM influences here, but to be honest it was all very tasteful and interesting.  Then in 2016 Clark released his soundtrack of "The Last Panthers", which most fans were a little underwhelmed with.  Personally though I love Clark when he's at his most ambient like he was here, so I ended up enjoying this quite a bit, however i DID understand that some of the ideas here were a little underdeveloped.  These new Clark singles have been a bit of a mixed bag, showing that Clark is certainly in experimental mode.  Let's talk about it.

This album starts off with the short “Spring But Dark”.  Now, from this intro, I actually get some pretty high hopes for what’s to come.  As far as a dark sound goes, I haven’t heard anything this menacing from Clark in ages.  Between the children’s choir in the back and the walls of synth that blast in, this is all pretty fantastic.  It’s short, but it’s a highly experimental and noisy intro that makes me happy to hear Clark has his thoughts straight.  It’s absolutely got an experimental edge, but I’ve always felt like Clark is at his best when he’s working in this realm.  However, my dreams of a fully THICK experimental and dark ambient album are crushed by “Butterfly Prowler”.  To be honest, this one sounds like one of the lesser tracks from one of his more forgettable albums.  This just sounds like a sort of dark tinged EDM, and I absolutely can’t stand it when Clark gets in this mindset.  To be honest, it’s still probably more engaging and interesting than most of the EDM out there these days, and there are certainly some good aspects to this.  I like the vocal samples and some of the more wonky sounding synths that pop up later on.  Not to mention, the rising tension used in some of the later synths comes off pretty nicely as well.  However, I just really wish “Butterfly Prowler” had a little more heart to is and had a little more of a left field edge to it.  It does have a pretty decent groove and all, but I feel like as the track rolls onwards it just gets more and more mainstream sounding, and that is not good at all.  But even when those last few moments roll around and Clark breaks out some string samples and some eerie sound effects, I get hope for the rest of the album and Clark in general.    Thankfully, Clark gets on track very quickly and pretty much stays there with “Peak Magnetic”.  Right off the bat this sounds just so much more subtle, which I’m totally into.  I find myself loving the vocal samples here almost constantly, as well as the super glitchy production.  And while the EDM influence on “Peak Magnetic” still shows up and all, it take it’s time building up nicely and isn’t shoved down our throats nearly as much.  I love the sort of ambient approach Clark is taking on this one, with all of these really nice background sound effect flowing through the track as the beat pumps onwards.  This is the sort of atmosphere I love to hear Clark on, walking that very thing line between EDM and more experimental stuff.  It’s also really haunting deep down, and those icy blast of synths blaring through the back give me almost a Tim Hecker vibe.  Now I’ll be honest, when I first heard this tune is really didn’t hit me that hard, but give it some time, it’s certainly worth it.  Plus, those droning synths at the end are absolutely to die for.  

Now, when I saw Clark a few years ago at a festival I was so happy when he stuck to his heavier, more atmospheric material.  But as heavy as he’s gotten over the years, I never expected to hear anything like “Hoova”.  Where in the world is this track even coming from?!  This may be the heaviest, most booming track I’ve ever heard from Clark.  There’s a really hectic groove in between these seriously gigantic drums that’s absolutely to die for.  All I have to say is, where the hell has THIS been?!?  Gimme some more of this!  Everything about “Hoova” comes off so skittish and glitchy, it’s a little hard to keep track of at times but man is it ever worth it.  The vocal samples continue to add a sort of darkness to this, but that’s an element that’s always worked for Clark.  As the album goes on, I still feel like Clark’s EDM side is just dying to break free, but here he lets it shine just enough.  “Hoova” overall is an icy, shimmering electronic track, one that takes a few listens to really get into, but it’s worth it.  Not to mention, I love the more live instrumentation that’s going on in the background, it gives this track a much more experimental edge.  “Slap Drones” is up next, and is much more subtle in every way.  The experimental side of Clark is subtle, the EDM side of him is hushed, and overall this is just a really hard track to get into.  There are a lot of real cool things going on still, like I love how the beat sort of seems to engulf all of the more ambient stuff thats going on here, and then there’s also the seriously twisted atmosphere.  “Slap Drones” is just sort of OK, but I do have one very serious issue with it.  To me, this really doesn’t come off as Clark solo material, this actually to me sounds a little like someone else’s material that Clark remixed.  That’s fine and all, but it just seriously doesn’t interest me.  Meanwhile, with all of the much heavier electronic music I’ve listened to this year, “Slap Drones” funnily enough is much less inviting.  But for the most part it isn’t terribly, there’s still some nice grooves and bizarre samples.  “Aftermath” is up next, and all I have to say is that Clark’s atmosphere has come such a long way from that days that I was constantly worrying about him becoming an EDM stat at any moment.  There are some nice instrumentals here, but they’re all backed by this very hulking sense of despair and sadness.  No, there really isn’t much going on on “Aftermath”, but it’s a decent interlude, and it shows that Clark can certainly “hang” in the world of ambient music.  

Up until now it’s been a decent Clark album, but Clark really ends off this album pretty strongly, starting with “Catastrophe Anthem”.  Right from this intro I can tell you that THIS is what I want to hear from Clark.  These synth notes in the intro are absolutely piercing as hell.  Between the very cold instrumentals and the absolutely massive atmosphere, this one is just so uninviting that I love it.  I love the very hectic instrumentals that are constantly at war behind this absolutely massive synth line.  And then, all of a sudden Clark throws a massive curveball and everything instantly becomes so serene and beautiful.  It really doesn’t last long though, as Clark brings right back that children’s choir and instantly we’re right back to being dark as hell.  To be honest, I can’t really remember the last time I felt this many different emotions listening to Clark’s music.  All of a sudden “Catastrophe Anthem” lives up to its name by going back to being all sorts of hectic and explosive, this almost reminds me of a watered down track from that new Blanck Mass album.  It’s a little ambient, it’s a WHOLE lot of darkness, and it’s quite frankly brilliant.  “Living Fantasy” up next lives up to it’s title for having a very whimsical feel to this one.  But to be honest this one sort of rubs me the wrong way a little bit.  The opening synths are just fine, but the keyboard melodies that pop in later that are constantly rising and falling get old really quickly to be honest.  And it’s a shame, because this one actually has a really nice serene atmosphere that works really nicely.  I just wish this one had a little more variety once things got rolling.  It’s good don’t get me wrong, but this late in the album I just wanted to here a little something more epic and adventurous.  However, my wish is granted with this MASSIVE finale, “Un U.K”.  This, in every way is exactly the sort of adventurous finale I wanted to hear from Clark.  Right off the bat Clark is at his most experimental and weird, but it all flows together so nicely and smoothly that as glitchy and weird as it is, this comes off both beautiful and inviting.  Some of the more progressive synth elements here don’t come off nearly as welcoming, but as a whole, “Un U.K.” is the kind of spectacle that I was expecting a little early from Clark.  Don’t get too comfortable though, because this track goes from stunningly beautiful to some of the noisiest and harshest electronic music I’ve heard all year.  Hey Clark, where can I get a whole album like THIS.

Rating: 7.7/10

Give A Listen To: “Peak Magnetic”, “Hoova”, “Catastrophe Anthem”, "Un U.K."

Overall Thoughts:  Overall, this is a pretty darn good Clark album, much more than I expected.  Clark over the years has always been very hit or miss with me, mostly because of his usual forays off into EDM and Techno, and I usually much would prefer to listen to his more ambient and experimental stuff.  That's what I got here.  Most of this material is also surprisingly heavy for Clark, between that and some weird samples and big atmospheres, this is a pretty solid electronic release.