Chris Clark, proves to be a new contender to his fellow Warp Records artists, creating a masterpiece of art blending the ambient soundscapes with IDM beat mastery as innovative as DJ Shadow. His fist album “Clarence Park,” was released a few years back and was pigeon holed as being the next Aphex Twin. After releasing a six song EP entitled “Ceramics Is The Bomb,” Clark attacks with his new soul searching album, “Empty The Bones of You.”
The album begins with “Indigo Optimus,” a dark tune with unbelievable beat compositions, spinning out fractured and abrasive beats cradled in an ambient soundscape. His voice is his beats they seem like they crawl out of the stereo, with quick volume swells and phat orchestrations of peaking loud ambient keyboards like ghosts of the past lurking the dance floors.
“Holiday As Brutality,” a moody tune composed of jazzy synths and static beats leaves a Boards of Canada, beaten to a bloody pulp by Squarepusher type feel.
Titled track “Empty the Bones of You,” floats on top a glassy lake with shooting stars lighting the sky as “Early Moss” picks up the pace with a groovy beat and sparkling keys which ascend to pond of encrypted messages sung by a decoder.
“Tyran,” keeps the up-beat ambience going with a bumping groove, which later is interrupted by a flood of beautiful keys winding things down, interchanging sounds, traveling different planes of thought, yet each theme revisited in brief flashes.
The six-minute "Wolf", has an underwater hip-hop sound and journeys through the murky sounds with a building beat. “Slow Spins,” a hypnotic beat, erodes away against a palette of drifting funk melodies, later come to play in reverse and then forward again quickly changing like a looping roller coaster.
“Farewell track” is has a Matrix kind of slow down sound where he slowed down a funky groove so slow you can hear the air of the non existent sticks swishing before the drum is struck, this track has a fantastic phasing keyboard solo against a low bass which is worth the price of the disc to hear this minute except.
The album ends with “Betty,” an ambient symphony of keys overlaid in abundance each slowly decaying leaving room for the others to breathe.
Chris Clark showcases a dark, melodic side of himself through these amazing soundscapes and amazing beat arrangements, where as “Ceramics Is The Bomb,” failed to keep my attention “Empty The Bones of You,” flows together like the IDM’s version of “Dark Side of the Moon.” Chris Clark is a fine artist, not unlike a dark painter; misunderstood by busloads of museum visitors, but the ones who take the time to stare into his creations will find a beauty that lies within. |