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CRITIC REVIEWS
90
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.
90
Haunting and expertly crafted, Playground in a Lake takes its place alongside Bibio's Phantom Brickworks and Loscil's Monument Builders as a beautifully destroyed sonic environment that provokes a powerful emotional response.
80
Dystopian epic from lo-fi beats maven-turned-cinematic sound auteur ... This haunting, sonically ambitious album was recorded, in part, with string orchestras in Berlin and Budapest.
80
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.
80
On this ninth album Playground In A Lake he appears to have undergone a near-complete symphonic conversion ... It's a powerful and bold reinvention.
61
Playground in a Lake sounds most natural to Clark when it’s a mutual exchange of old and new ideas.
60
Playground In A Lake offers some stunning moments and is likely to be enjoyed greatly by Clark’s most ardent fans, but the casual listener may find the experimental sound design too sprawling.
Channelling similar energy to 2016's The Last Panthers, Clark's newest album is a beautifully arranged classical crossover release, effortlessly melancholic and sombre in its opening tones, which later shift to emotive and poignant contemporary classical and progressive electronic suites. Playground in a Lake may not reach some of the same heights as the aforementioned album, but it comes damn close while also mixing in new ideas, with a heavier influence on orchestral backing. The record does ... read more
Seeing as how I first came across the music of electronic producer Clark via his thrilling 2014 self-titled album, I haven’t really been impressed by any of his most recent work. His newest album Playground in a Lake is his first non-soundtrack work since 2017, but it still sounds like he’s stuck in that mode. A lot of theses tracks are quite boring, with them being composed of simple piano passages that don’t go anywhere (“Citrus”, “Suspension ... read more
A very well produced atmospheric blend of electronic and classical music. I love the ‘bassy’ tone of the electronics. This is so vast and bleak. Unfortunately, a lot of it sounds like fairly aimless filler. But there are still some great moments on here!
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Track List
- Lovelock
- Lambent Rag
- Citrus
- Forever Chemicals
- More Islands
- Small
- Disguised Foundation
- Suspension Reservoir
- Entropy Polychord
- Aura Nera
- Already Ghosts
- Earth Systems
- Emissary
- Comfort and Fear
- Shut You Down
- Life Outro
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Added on: January 26, 2021