The story of Chris Clark’s career in electronic music is one of budding, sprouting, and expansion: an unstoppable maturing journey from a Warp Records template-artist to an inimitable pillar on the leftfield landscape. On July 26, he will unveil the latest step forward in this 18-year-long odyssey: Kiri Variations, an album composed of material originally made for the BAFTA-nominated TV miniseries Kiri. Today, we are happy to premiere the single “Cannibal Homecoming.”
Likely the most conventionally song-like track in Clark’s oeuvre to date — if only for the fact that it features his own vocals — “Cannibal Homecoming” evokes the soft, whimsical electronica of artists such as Múm and Dntel, while still being grounded firmly in today’s cutting-edge laptop synthesis by the overpowering granular bass stomps that waltz in. It is as if contemporary production tricks infringed on the song’s piano loops and gossamery strings the way our harsh modern realities would disrupt a pleasant dream. In the climacteric middle section, Clark appears to comment on this dichotomy: “It’s never one way or another / It’s always one way and another.” I can’t help but interpret this as optimism: we can still celebrate innocence and joy amid turbulent times.
Pre-order Kiri Variations here, and listen to “Cannibal Homecoming” below: