Album Review: Fantasm Planes [EP] by Clark

Permanently restless but forever familiar – the new EP by maximalist electronica savant Chris Clark covers yet more new ground while retaining his indelible touch of genius. The hypercolour cover suggests Boards Of Canada, as do the blissed dubs of ‘Com Re-Touch’ and ‘Henderson Swooping’. ‘Dove In Flames’ and ‘Brigitte’ echo Clark’s sparser work, but there’s more of an impact when he returns to squelching punches of noise that aurally vandalise his songs, especially after the more tasteful palette of his last album ‘Iradelphic’.

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The sessions for Clark's Iradelphic album were so prolific that they sparked not only that album but also a series of excerpts available online and this EP, which is half new material and half reworked Iradelphic tracks, and is just as intriguing as the other material from this particular era in the producer's career. The title track is the main attraction here: it begins with an elaborately spiraling flute melody that is seamlessly mirrored by a fuzzy synth and joined by busy beats that add intrigue without breaking the track's flow. A close second would be "Secret Slow Show," a gorgeous, vocals-dominated track that recalls the best moments of Clark's Warp labelmates Broadcast and Leila.

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It might seem curious that laptop evil genius Chris Clark, having just months ago released his commercially successful full-length, Iradelphic, would respond so swiftly with a follow-up EP. Two facts to consider: no electronic-music artists are sonically spot-on 100% of the time, and, secondly: the very nature of their art allows for a perhaps flawed impulse towards prolificacy. Iradelphic, truly, is a solid album.

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Following his album Iradelphic from earlier this year, Clark has already moved on, his natural inclination for restlessness leading him to rework three tracks from that LP and adding them to another three new recordings for this EP. Read up on Clark's recent studio output and live performances, and the word "psychedelic" will crop up, although it's difficult to match up this music with the true definition of the word. These tracks don't represent some kind of mind-altering tussle with the doors of perception.

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