Death Peak delivers on its promise of hidden mysteries with repeated listenings. Never retro nor settling; across nine albums he maintains constant forward momentum as a musician and artist.
Clark, as a veteran of Warp Record’s roster, has recorded an album that lands all over the musical spectrum, pinging different genres as he moves on to the next or back to another one. But Clark’s work is never retro nor settling; across nine albums he maintains constant forward momentum as a musician and artist.
Death Peak is an epic adventure. While that term is thrown around often and sometimes too handily, it is apt and fitting for the album. It’s a stark departure from previous efforts while reliably sounding like its maker’s trademark sounds. Tracks move from orchestral to progressive to rave-y without saccharine nods or gentle toe-dipping explorations of each. There is a feeling like one gets listening to gamelan where the music is metallic and mystical, driving you into and through places at once familiar and alien all at once.
“Butterfly Power” has a nice two step feel to it with Clark’s favorite copper-y metallic organs and solid kick hi-hat combo, moving through several iterations of dance music without losing the heady, thoughtful aspect of his music. “Peak Magnetic” is another banger with a lighter feel that ventured into old-school Detroit techno sounds. “Aftermath” works in dreamy harpsichord drenched in reverb with descending chord progressions like a Vicodin sunset. “Slap Drones” is pure Clark with stabbing synths, hazy pads and a steady solid beat weaving its way through the jam-o-sphere. “Un U.K.” closes the album with its ten-minute exploration of several different land and soundscapes during the journey, encompassing all of what Death Peak entails while delivering on its promise of hidden mysteries with repeated listenings.
Death Peak is perhaps best defined as a soundtrack to some massive theatre productions about the rise and fall of an alien civilization.
Death Peak is available on Warp.
