Some six months since Clark released the aptly-titled remix fest Feast / Beast and he’s back with a single on home-from-home Warp that sheds its inhibitions whilst staying true to the wonderful unconventionality upon which he’s built his career so far.

Superscope’s is an unorthodox aggression that remains at once both musical and brutal whilst staying within that recognisable thudding, tribal template: steam-train stabs and scuttling percussive working in tandem to drive the music forward with unrelenting zeal, whilst the flip joins ‘Punters Step Out’ as a close cousin to its quirky Dancehall re-invention.

Perhaps Clark himself described it best when he stated, ‘All in all I was hoping for a singular, potent slab of techno’, yet to prescribe such a one-note subscription on our side would be to do the record a supreme injustice. Yes ‘Superscope’ revels in the simplicity of its sum of parts but it’s Clark’s eccentricity that inevitably stamps its authority on proceedings.

This no frills approach only really works when the artist’s technical ability and emotional drive are given the space to manoeuvre within this ‘formulaic’ template, so if you thought his latest two-tracker simultaneously represents a conformity to the latter and a departure from the careful introspection of say Iradelphic for example, take a second to absorb ‘Riff Through The Fog’s slow unravelling into blissful ambience at its climax.

In true Naibu vein, Clark certainly saved the best till last – and for those patient enough to listen carefully – and as such Superscope represents an emphatic, effortlessly confident return to form for a true Warp great. Sublime stuff.

Clark – Supercope is out now on Warp Records. Grab yours via the label’s official website.

 

 

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