Set for release by Warp on 18th March, ‘The Last Panthers’ features music from and inspired by Clark’s mesmerising score for the Sky Atlantic crime thriller of the same name. The six part series, co-produced by Warp Films (Southcliffe, ‘71, Four Lions, This Is England) and Haut et Court (The Returned), stars Samantha Morton, Tahar Rahim, John Hurt and was reviewed by the Guardian as “bold, smart and seductive”.
Forming part of a burgeoning movement of contemporary artists working in the soundtrack and composition world – including Mica Levi, Mogwai, Jon Hopkins, Ólafur Arnalds – Clark approached ‘The Last Panthers’ soundtrack with the same ethos as his artist releases; combining sounds of the natural world with clinical, machine enhanced production and an experimental, exploratory attitude. Here he breaks off from his mainline discography to deliver this stunning project, meticulously edited and expanded from the original score into a coherent listening experience.
“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.”
Following a huge world tour in support of his critically acclaimed 2014 self titled album, the Warp producer was approached by series director Johan Renck (Breaking Bad, Bloodline, Vikings, The Walking Dead) to provide the soundtrack.
“Johan 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 is currently in Malmö scoring ‘Sentinel’ for acclaimed choreographer Antony Hamilton.
Clark ‘The Last Panthers’
Release Date: 18th March 2016 (Vinyl 29th April)
Label: Warp
Format: LP // CD // Digital
Cat No: WARP274
Tracklist:
01. Back To Belgrade
02. Hiero-Bosch For Khalil
03. Diamonds Aren’t Forever
04. Panthers Bass Plock
05. Chloroform Sauna
06. Serbian Daffodil
07. Naomi Pleen
08. Open Foe
09. Strangled To Death In A Public Toilet
10. Cryogenic
11. Brother Killer
12. Omni Vignette
13. Actual Jewels
14. Dead Eyes For Zvlatko / Heaven Theme
15. Diamonds Aren’t Forever II
16. Upward Evaporation
17. Hide On The Treads 1
18. Hide On The Treads 2
19. Hide On The Treads 3