Actor was co-produced by Clark and John Congleton (Modest Mouse, Polyphonic Spree) and features eleven new songs, all written and arranged by Clark. Actor takes the ambitious compositional and sonic underpinnings of Clark's debut as a starting point and never looks back. the arrangements are more masterful, the songwriting grander, the performances ever more confident and inspired. Clark developed an idiosyncratic writing process for Actor, immersing herself in some of her favourite films - 'Badlands', 'Pierrot Le Fou', 'The Wizard of Oz', 'Stardust Memories', 'Sleeping Beauty' - and beginning each song as a secret film score, then slowly giving it independence as its structure and lyrics came fully into focus. the resulting eleven tracks are as cinematic as pop songs can be, but the movie is a private one, revealing its storyline in hushed, cunning couplets and cascades of scathing guitar.
Cat: cad2919
Label: 4AD