All of my music is available right now! You can get a digital copy of my songs anytime using one of these great services.
All of my music is available right now! You can get a digital copy of my songs anytime using one of these great services.
Seth Clark’s debut album, Environmentalism into the Nineties: The Ents March on Washington, combines a pastiche of genres and styles with keen insight into the creative possibilities inherent in both MIDI and Digital Synthesis. Clark, a 1996 MFA graduate of the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College, draws upon musical and pop cultural influences as diverse as John Cage, Boris Karloff, Richard Brautigan and Indonesian gamelon music to create a richly textured, thoughtful progression of percussion orchestras, ambient soundscapes and musical sculptures. Much of this album was created, as the title suggests, less than a decade after the birth of MIDI and digital synthesis. The album explores the artistic potentialities inherent in these then-new technologies.
Despite its title, Environmentalism into the Nineties does more than just bear up to the “test of time”; the album captures the inventive, exploratory spirit accessible only at the inception of new media, genres or technology. Moreover, Clark is no passive tram conductor on a subway trip to the lost potential of 90s-era electronica. Instead, each piece connects common experience to previously unrealized mental landscapes, and in that light, the majority of the album is accessible for both the common listener and the aficionado.
For example, Clark’s more melodic pieces, such as “The Great Green Boat Race,” “Sweet Thursday” and “Modal Waltz” might at first suggest the grace and ambiance of a live performer; as the pieces progress, however, we hear and feel an impossible stretching of pitch, timbre, chord progression and tempo, pushing the boundaries of the possible while simultaneously seeming natural. Moreover, the compositions are evocative and stirring, refusing to be merely ambient. These pieces are not only pleasant surface listening events, their accessibility and subtle complexity sinuously invite serious listening and profound questioning of the boundaries between live human performance and electronic composition while simultaneously remaining passionate and redolent melodies.
Clark’s sound sculptures are similarly entertaining and intellectual. “There Was a Loud and Painful Ringing in His Ears…”, for example, an homage to the climax of John Cheever’s novel Bullet Park, might best be described as the answer to the question “What does redemption sound like?” Whether you’re more interested in the sounds he gets in this piece from a phase vocoder or the raw listening experience—a wall of mid-range jangle building to a crescendo that always seems just a bit out of reach--he gives you a lot to think about. Is redemption harsh? Does it remain, like in the piece, tantalizingly close but just beyond our groping fingers?
Overall, Environmentalism into the Nineties has something for everyone. For those new to electronic music, it’s a great tour of the potential of the genre in a witty, whimsical, and brilliantly inventive series of short, evocative pieces; some make familiar sounds new while others present outlandish, edgy auditory experiences accessibly and thoughtfully. At the same time, the electronic music community will soon see that the richness and originality of these pieces defies the merely novel, continually rewarding closer scrutiny.
Hey everyone,
I’d like to thank Seth for giving me the opportunity to be on his web site! I first met Seth several years ago now, he was actually my land lord for about 3 years believe it or not. My first encounter with Seth’s music was very interesting to say the least. I was out on a sales call and one of my associates put in the Environmentalism into the nineties CD. “Wow” had to be my first reaction, we flipped through the first few songs and remember I had no idea what to expect. I was almost immediately struck by two songs as I listened. The first track and the fourth track have to be my favorites. The first song, The Great Green Boat Race sold me on Seth’s music. Not too long after the multimedia company I worked for was designing a website for Seth and I jumped at the opportunity to work on Seth’s site. Throughout the process of building and designing the site I had a lot of exposure to Seth’s ideas as a musician and also a graphic artist. I found his work to be very interesting because unique nature and as graphic designer myself i know how hard it can be to find that original look or sound. I look forward to listening to his future musical endeavors and wish him the best.
Thanks Seth! Jared