Mislead by the frantic appetizer Throttle Furniture, initially I felt that Body Riddle was too mellow. I began to discover its qualities after feeding my heavy beats needs with the latest Milanese: now I have the time to focus my attention on the gorgeous, detailed tracks that form this record.
I would even dare to say it’s (Chris) Clark’s best work to date, mainly because it’s much more cohesive than his previous Empty The Bones Of You and the other EPs, which instead featured a patchwork of upbeat tunes and melodic instrumental pieces. Here, beats and drums are more organic, and the compressed processing typical of Clark’s work is used to entangle intimately these crunchy rhythms with lush synth-work, as in “Ted” or “Roulette Thrift Run.” Most of the tunes are a pleasure to air drum to while whistling to contagious melodies, something that didn’t happen in the past, because all the different elements weren’t blended in such a harmonious way. You’ll hear and read that Body Riddle is influenced by post-rock, or that it borrows ideas from Aphex Twin, but here’s my two cents: including some live instruments doesn’t mean this album sounds like Broadcast, and every comparison with AFX is always useless, since every electronic act virtually has its roots in what he’s done since the early 90’s. So, forget about “Nannou” when you reach “Night Knuckles,” and simply enjoy its sheer, sparkling beauty. Someone says that if you close a live set / radio show / record with the best tune you own, you’ll leave the audience charmed: this is indeed the case of Body Riddle and its last “The Autumnal Crush,” whose gentle piano tones are so moving and intense to leave a persistent memory in the listener.
My advice is to give Body Riddle more than one chance, it will slowly grow on you; and beware of MP3’s, they just don’t give justice to the detailed production of this album.
Body Riddle is out now on Warp.
