By Alex Pearson
Before I start off, for those that don’t know who these guys are let me introduce you to Clock Opera. They are a British indie rock band based in London. Forming in 2009 by singer, guitarist and sampler Guy Connelly, the quartet also comprises Andy West on bass and guitar, Che Albrighton on drums, and Dan Armstrong on keyboards and vocals (now replaced by Nic Nell after Dan left in 2014).
The band released their debut album ‘Ways To Forget’ on April 23rd, 2012, which included singles ‘Belongings and ‘Once and for All’. The Sunday Times placed the album at number 7 on their list of best debuts of 2012. So they were clearly doing something right. On the 28th May 2015, the band announced that they were to start a crowdfunding campaign to start recording their second LP ‘Venn’ which has been released today!
The second album ‘Venn’ kicks off with their dark single ‘In Memory’. The ghostly track really puts a downer on the term ‘in memory’ with some deep, dark synths making their sound more suitable for a haunted dance floor. “We got what/ We wished for,” Connelly warns on the chorus. “We’re going to live forever in memory.” But that’s not the type of memory you might think. “I was thinking a lot about the huge transition we are collectively undergoing from memory held in individual and society’s brains” Connelly stated in a press release.
The next three tracks ‘Challenging’, ‘Closer’ and ‘Whippoorwill’ continue a sense of fright and pure darkness, not to mention that a Whippoorwill is a nocturnal bird from North America. ‘Closer’ commences with a chunky instrumental, a vibrant palette of sound to paint a picture of fierce intensity, this intoxicating experience evokes undivided intrigue and anticipation. Whereas ‘Challenging’ samples some terrifying bells to the mix.
Half way through the album it starts to pick up the tempo with ‘Hear My Prayer’ and ‘Devish’ bringing an uplifting over the true meaning. Devish is quite politically based, regarding the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York city in 2011 alongside the Turkish dancing Devish in a gas mask. ‘Tooth & Claw’ and ‘Cat’s eye’ sit somewhere in-between Everything Everything and Yazoo. There’s a lot of different sounds and ideas thrown in, all of which seem to fit well together.
Finally rounding off the album is ‘When We Disappear’, which comes back to ‘In Memory’s’ saddened tone and lyrics. Connolly said; “To be specific, the majority of the songs were inspired by a miscarriage. A lot of the others were driven by the fallout from it.” It’s a very sad album that has been pulled off incredibly well. Proving to the world that after a very long five years through the thick and thin, Clock Opera still know how to make fantastically powerful music.
