Clark

A prolific producer and composer whose output resists straightforward categorization, Clark has long balanced buoyant energy against darker undercurrents. Across his discography, gritty synths, breakbeats, noise, and references to house and techno have appeared in shifting guises: Clarence Park from 2001 wrapped them in frosty nostalgia, while Body Riddle in 2006 enriched them with orchestral and jazz touches. He pitted the abrasive against the introspective on the intense Turning Dragon of 2008 and the pastoral Iradelphic of 2012, then fused both poles on the haunting Playground in a Lake in 2021. Over time his ability to convey intricate feeling expanded into broader forms, bringing equal praise for the score to the 2019 film Daniel Isn't Real and for the vocal dimension added on 2023's Sus Dog.

Christopher Stephen Clark was born in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England. He began composing during his teenage years and also tried building his own instruments. After attending St. Albans School he enrolled at Bristol University, where a December 2000 performance at a Warp Records party under the name Chris from St. Albans drew label interest. The following April he issued his debut Clarence Park on Warp as Chris Clark; its cold, terse synths and big beats received widespread acclaim. He later based himself for a period in Brighton, where he worked with Broadcast on an alternate take of “Herr Barr” and on improvisations that surfaced in 2006.

The Ceramics Is the Bomb EP arrived in May 2003, yet September’s Empty the Bones of You marked a clear advance, its disorienting textures and lulling synths revealing greater maturity. Clark’s first release under the shortened name came with the February 2006 Throttle Furniture EP, previewing that October’s Body Riddle. The album blended tweaked live instrumentation with electronics and again earned strong reviews; the Ted and Throttle Promoter EPs appeared soon afterward. Returning to a fully electronic sound for the self-described “techno album” Turning Dragon in March 2008, Clark also scored Held that year, Australian dancer/choreographer Melanie Lane’s meditation on memory and physical space. He stayed active in 2009 with the March Growls Garden EP and the July full-length Totems Flare.

In the ensuing decade his projects broadened further. He composed the score for Lane’s 2010 piece Tilted Fawn, then joined the Brighton collective Blast Theory on the 2011 interactive installation Fixing Point, which examined the Conflict in Northern Ireland. A 2012 Record Store Day split single with Bibio, “Willenhall/Baskerville Grinch,” preceded April’s fifth album Iradelphic. The folk-tinged record, cut in multiple locations with Bibio’s contributions, generated enough material for the downloadable Iradelphic Sessions series and the later Fantasm Planes EP. The 2013 remix collection Feast/Beast featured reworkings by Massive Attack, Bibio, Depeche Mode, and HEALTH, while that same year Clark rejoined Lane for Shrine, a multimedia work rooted in ritual and ceremony.

November 2014’s self-titled album and its single “Superscope” adopted a harder, more dance-oriented stance that carried into 2015’s Flame Rave EP. Also in 2015 Clark scored the six-part crime thriller miniseries The Last Panthers, produced by Warp Films; the BAFTA-nominated soundtrack appeared on Warp Records in March 2016. The next month he collaborated with Mark Pritchard and Bibio on the Record Store Day single “A Badman Sound/Heath Town/Inf Inf Inf Inf.” April 2017’s Death Peak integrated vocals into dense, luminous yet ominous tracks. Subsequent shorter releases included the 2017 Com Truise collaboration Bobbie Caris/Idle Withdrawal and 2018’s E.C.S.T. T.R.A.X. on his own Throttle imprint. That year he and cellist Oliver Coates reimagined Bach’s music at Bach Evolution in the Royal Albert Hall and performed a live score to Stan Brakhage’s Dog Star Man at Max Richter’s Sounds and Visions event at the Barbican.

Kiri Variations, issued on Throttle Records in July 2019, gathered unused cues written for the BAFTA-winning series Kiri and its story of a missing girl’s effect on family and community. Processed acoustic instruments and Clark’s voice featured throughout. After the techno-leaning singles “Branding Problem” and “Legacy Pet,” December brought his largely orchestral score for the hallucinatory thriller Daniel Isn't Real, concerning a college freshman held captive by his imaginary friend; a deluxe edition with bonus tracks and a Thom Yorke remix followed in October 2020. March 2021’s Playground in a Lake again merged orchestral and electronic elements, enlisting Coates, Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor on clarinet, Yair Elazar Glotman on double bass, and vocalists Kieran Brunt and Afrodeutsche. Ecological themes intersected with nods to Scott Walker’s string arrangements and 1970s synth experiments. In September a remastered Body Riddle appeared alongside rarities, unreleased material, and new pieces, among them the Throttle Furniture EP, issued both as Body Double and as 05-10. Clark returned in May 2023 with Sus Dog, his first album to showcase his own vocals. Released on Throttle and executive-produced by Thom Yorke, the record reflected on life and creativity through psychedelic pop, dream pop, rave, and hardcore techno, with appearances by Yorke, Anika, Rakhi Singh, and the Budapest Art Orchestra.