It becomes clear that the “reform” in Reform Club points not only toward tighter, slicker production but also to the combination of tech house and dub oriented beats that has evolved so much since his 2008 release Metanarrative.
There are multi-insturmentalists in the more physical world of music but in the world of electronic music it’s not quite as obvious when a producer is master to many diverse modes of sound making. One might call a producer like Manchester, England’s Claro Intelecto a multi-platform or multi-software virtuoso. It takes a certain amount of dedication to sit down to a program like Cubase, settle in and begin creating, but it takes a more adaptive quality to move from the piano, to trackers, sequencers, to the universe of synthesizers, and really sink into each in order to discover a desired sound. Claro Intelecto, a.k.a. Mark Stewart rediscovers his desired sound on Reform Club.
Stewart’s love of synthesizers is apparent right off the bat with stabs of swelling atmospheric tones and a pillowy bass kick on the records opening track “Reformed.” As the subtle, minimalist bass gives way to a metronomic hi-hat click and punchy swung kick drum, it becomes clear that the “reform” in Reform Club points not only toward tighter, slicker production but also to the combination of tech house and dub oriented beats that has evolved so much since his 2008 release Metanarrative.
Reform Club progresses through a series of steamy, Gui Boratto-esque vaporizing hi-hats on “Blind Side;” to reverberated, ringing tones and dense rhythmic globular beats on “Scriptease.” Stewart slips in a gliding bass track on his more frantic 120bpm track “Control,” a change from the 95bpm “Still Here”—with its far off curtains of slow motion synth—before slipping back down on the hypnotizing, mechanical track “Second Blood.” As bereaved as some of the chords on these tracks may sound, the emotional release often comes with this variation in tempo from track to track.
Claro Intelecto may have slipped off of the map after a four year gap between albums, a gap that is equivalent to an entire generation of music in the ever changing electronic music scene, but Reform Club displays Stewart’s ability to adapt to this changing environment while still maintaining the sound he’s known for.
Reform Club is available on Delsin. Buy at Delsin, Amazon or Juno.
