There’s few more beguiling sounds around at the minute than the shape-shifting glitch-pop of Bella Union producer Clarence Clarity. His upcoming debut album ‘No Now’, due for release on March 2, is a snaking electro-soul odyssey that sounds like what you imagine cult San Fran sonic experimenter Holly Herndon might make if she was a 1990s Top of the Pops mainstay, colliding twitching beats and contorted cut-and-splice vocals with Ashanti pop hooks and grooves so sleazy they’d make Prince blush. There’s something unsettling about the resulting Frankenstein’s monster: the more you listen and try to unpick its coagulated clots of sound, the more you detail you get lost in, till you’re completely, claustrophobically submerged.
‘Will To Believe’ is one of my favourite tracks from the record, purring to completion in four minutes of screeching synths, Eastern bells, muted brass and barrages of white noise, punctuated by a huge, emotive chorus: “I can always feel it,” sings Clarity. He’s on tour with Jungle later this month, starting in Portsmouth on February 17, but you can also catch him at the below headline dates. Don’t miss.
April 7 – Oporto, Leeds
April 8 – Hare and Hounds, Birmingham
April 9 – Hoxton Bar and Grill, London
April 11 – Louisiana, Bristol