Biography
Ypsilanti, Michigan, serves as home base for musician Mike Connelly, whose reputation rests primarily on his involvement in multiple noise and experimental outfits including Wolf Eyes, Hair Police, and Failing Lights. Alongside spouse Tara Connelly he formed Clay Rendering to explore ethereal darkwave goth rock. Their approach merges slow, brooding synth pop with ominous pianos, sheets of black metal guitar, echo-shrouded vocals, and, most intriguingly, Tara’s eerie accordion playing. In contrast to the majority of projects tied to Wolf Eyes or Hair Police, Clay Rendering has avoided saturating its catalog with countless limited cassettes and CD-Rs drawn from rehearsals and jams, the lone exception being the 2015 tour-only tape Smoke Holds Nothing. The pair instead invests effort in composing fully realized songs and issuing them on meticulously designed vinyl. In 2013 the duo joined Dominick Fernow’s Hospital Productions roster, introducing themselves via the two-song “Vengeance Candle” 12". The next year brought the four-song 12" EP Waters Above the Firmament together with the 7" single “Fire Is Fall’s Rose.” Their first full-length, Snowthorn, arrived in 2015.
Albums
Singles
