There are dark places in Jeff Clarke’s world. Miracle after Miracle after … details that world, filling in the pains of existence. What he sees and what he feels can sound quite torturous, yet along with the pain, there’s a beautiful uncertainty. Because when we emerge from the darkness, there is light, sometimes painfully bright. His music comes from the battle of those forces.
Coming from the world of garage rock, his days in Demon’s Claws and The Black Lips were filled with the sounds of raising hell and taking no prisoners. His latest effort is the second in a series of releases filled with the sounds of a world-weary seeker searching for release. Virtually any release will do. The opening strains of ‘Sun Down’ focus on his choppy, reformed-punk straining guitar. His voice mournfully exclaims, “So now it’s sundown/ And I’ll be walking the streets tonight/ In search of a vending/A vending machine to vandalise.” As an opening gambit it does reveal the darkness.
Featuring an upbeat piano, ‘Sparrow’ comes from a different place. “And I saw you pouring out your heart/ On the street to some pole you used to know/ It had just arrived from a warehouse/ And it was looking for someone to hold.” Clearly, Clarke also knows how to laugh. Which sets the scene for lines where he illustrates how strange the world we live in truly is, “I’m going to pray now/ To a god I’ve always ignored.” A flawed individual exposing those flaws for everyone to see.
Revealing himself as a child of the digital age, Clarke looks upon himself with pity in ‘Book of Paul’. With his controller in hand, he lets it be known, “Poor Me/ I’m soaked in shame/ To kill who I want in my video games.” Welcome to the modern world, where we live in a jumble of competing emotions, tied to screens that offer a version of the truth that is perhaps even less sanitized that what is watched on video screens.
Yet somethings about the world never change, even while everything is in a state of constant change. Despite it all, love, however you describe it, is a constant that makes ‘Before I Knew You’ a love song even as it tries hard not to be. “Before I met you/ There was something missing/ Missing in my life/ Before I knew you.” Those closing lines have a huge emotional impact based on break up played out in the lines that came before, as he runs into the arms of his new love.
Miracle after Miracle after … exposes Jeff Clarke expressively. He wears his warts and lets the world see them all. In his imperfections, he reveals himself as a man in search of miracles, and through his honesty we can see ourselves a little more clearly.