Playground in a lake

"Following the recent turn toward acoustic instruments in his soundtrack work, the UK electronic polymath investigates neoclassical modes on an album inspired by climate change ... The whole of Playground in a Lake suffers from the flatness of its instrumentation and emotional range. Some of that seems intentional-such as the robotic vocals, self-playing pianos, and dusty strings-yet it's no less at odds with an existentially themed body of music".

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"Playground In A Lake's confident auteurist sweep marks it out as more than just an electronica dude dabbling in neoclassical waters, or another one of those stylish but ideologically vague imaginary soundtracks. A drumless, dreamlike odyssey haunted by a childlike spirit, perhaps the only comparable work of recent times is Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds' Ghosteen. Clark might not have the tools to open you up emotionally to quite the same degree, but he's found an elegant and absorbing way to articulate the current mood of despair like few have managed so far. Here, as in all the best ghost stories, the scariest thing is what we're doing to ourselves".

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"It's hard not to see Playground In A Lake as the most ambitious Clark release to date, an adventurous collision of different musical worlds that also carries an important underlying environmental message. It offers a bold pointer towards the future, both in terms of Clark's own ongoing musical journey and the broader fate of the planet".

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