Originally sourced from a single, three-minute composition performed by a 22-piece string orchestra in Budapest, Clara is loscil’s meditation on light, shade, and decay. The recording was later ‘scratched and abused to add texture and color’, and its orchestral samples continually morph, their original appearance on the verge of being unrecognisable. In spite of its contained origin and the supposed restrictions placed on its source material, Clara is an incredibly spacious, nebulous record. Coming from the Latin word for ‘bright’, Clara is able to shine like a shifting haze of dim light even among its creeping shadows, which are always near and always plentiful. Even with such an impressive back catalogue, Scott Morgan’s long-standing loscil project continues to surprise and enrich.
Melodic droplets form and cycle around in the dense atmosphere, appearing to be quite graceful, dancing in the air. Morgan’s music has always encouraged and promoted a sense of slow-but-continuous movement, and that unstoppable momentum can be heard within Clara. It naturally envelops, spreads, expands, stepping out of its original recording, moving past its confinement, and morphing into incredibly expansive, deeply-textured and immersive music; its Universe advances from a single point of origin, the original recording providing inspiration and acting as the root of its dark tree, providing nourishment and sustenance to the music as it grows and matures into an electronic-etched adult. ‘Orta’ continues with patience and care, its deep-diving textures swimming in murky tonal waters, and closing track ‘Clara’ is a magnificent finale, beaming out from sublime depths. Morgan never puts a foot wrong, making Clara one of the most cohesive and impressive loscil records in recent memory. Clara is out May 28 on Kranky.