CLARK – THE LAST PANTHERS
2016-01-25Last year, Clark scored “The Last Panthers,” a six-part crime thriller TV series that aired on Canal+/Sky Atlantic. He now drops a new album with music from and inspired by the show, called The Last Panthers.
I was quite shocked when I heard all the final cues from “Panthers,” lined up in the exact order they appear in the show, in a clinical linear fashion. I thought, “there’s no way that’s an album as it is.” There were about 60 tracks for a start. I felt like I had to rescue it from being a conventional exposition of the music in the series, so I went on an immense chiselling/editing mission and also started writing new material. I think it works as a standalone album, it’s a continuous slab of liquid melancholy, it resonates through harmony and texture. Rhythm felt less important.
[Series director] Johan [Renck] has incredibly broad, open-minded taste. “Make it more satanic, biblical” was his favourite direction. He hates handclaps too. I’m sure I managed to slip a few in there somewhere. The hard thing was reducing it to a signature “Panthers” palette. The most fun part was recording huge chunks of me playing viola, and then treating the recordings like errant students in need of guitar pedal discipline. It’s an amazing feeling to play your own string parts, even though they sound quite scuffed, it brings a grit that I can’t resist. I wanted to create an unsettling, brittle sonic universe that reflected the tragic downward trajectory of the characters lives, with moments of immense enveloping warmth and softness.
Clark
The album is out March 18th via Warp.