- Chris Clark's music has always been dramatic. But the sound and fury of his albums—from his 16-year-old full-length debut, Clarence Park, to his last album, 2014's Clark—often harboured subtle and suggestive moments. His most recent work, a score for the TV crime drama The Last Panthers, was an intriguing expansion of a sound we rarely hear from Clark. On Death Peak, his ravier side reemerges, but from a previously unseen direction. The manic energy of older records is replaced, on "Peak Magnetic," by the euphoric rush of an act like Orbital. A large part of Death Peak—despite the morbid title—contains some of Clark's most accessible and melodic dance floor tracks.
The album also uses vocals more than in the past. Voices cut into stiletto stabs add an extra rhythmic element to "Hoova"'s warehouse grind. Clark manipulates vocals into misty angelic coos that emulate a synth pad on "Aftermath." An eerie children's choir sings "we are your ancestors" on "Catastrophe Anthem." It's Death Peak's most unsettling track, which, when the track's industrial drones descend, feels as though it was written for a horror film.
Possibly inspired by last year's The Last Panthers, Clark's latest album often has a cinematic feel. That's particularly true of the widescreen "Living Fantasy," which is electronica composed with a combination of classical grandeur and post-rock dynamics. Even more impressive is the epic scope and ambition of Death Peak's finale, "Un U.K." It begins with lush synth atmospheres but is later scoured by distortion and a deafening grind. Gentle melodic chimes emerge from the wreckage. Strings and soft voices chatter in the background. A child giggles. That "Un U.K." has so many twists and turns makes it a fitting end to an album that is in itself a genuine thriller.
Tracklist01. Spring But Dark
02. Butterfly Prowler
03. Peak Magnetic
04. Hoova
05. Slap Drones
06. Aftermath
07. Catastrophe Anthem
08. Living Fantasy
09. Un U.K.