Intuitive Music

Anne Clark

Anne Clark is one of the most personal artists from the British post-punk and synth pop scene who has created an intimate and rich world of electronic music and poetry. She was also an important figure in the creation of the electronic scene in the UK during the 80’s and 90’s and her songs “Our Darkness” and “Sleeper in Metropolis” became all-time classics. To this day, many electronic artists and DJs claim her as one of their main influences and is told to be a Cult artist in Germany.

Anne Clark was born on May 14th 1960 in Croydon, South London. As a teenager, after having tried different jobs, she started working at local independent record store and label called Bonaparte Records where he kept in touch with the growing punk scene. At the time Anne started organizing punk nights at the nearby Warehouse Theatre, working as an unpaid administrator for almost 2 years and hosting artists like Paul Weller, Linton Kwesi-Johnson, French & Saunders, The Durutti Column and Ben Wat. During this period, Anne started launching her own music career, experimenting with music and text. Anne Clark made her first performance in London supporting Depeche Mode at Richard Strange’s Cabaret Futura. At hte time she also co-edited Paul Weller’s publishing company Riot Stories to promote the poetry of young underground writers. During the late 70’s, Anne started working for television channels like the BBC Channel 4, as a script writer and also collaborated with Patrik Fitzgerald and The Durutti Column.

In 1982, Anne Clark released her debut album “The Sitting Room”, featuring the collaborations of vocalist from This Mortal Coil and Dominic Appleton. It was during the Warehouse days that Anne Clark met the composer and producer David Harrow, who eventually became the co-writer of her forthcoming albums, starting with “Changing Places” in 1983. Two years later, after having released the album “Joined Up Writing”, she also collaborated with the ex-singer from Ultravox, John Foxx, on the album “Pressure Points”. A year later, her love for the piano moved her to work with classically trained pianist Charlie Morgan, who joined her on her first US tour and later co-wrote material for the album “Hopeless Cases” (1987).

In 1987, Anne moved to Norway, where he lived for 3 years and worked with the Norwegian musicians Tov Ramstad and Ida Baalsrud. In 1991, Clark released the album “Unstill Life” in collaboration with Charlie Morgan, which was the completion of an old project that she had started back in 1982. Sadly, the project was put down due to Morgan’s diagnosis of cancer. Charlie Morgan died in December 1992 aged just 36, shortly after the release of the album.

In 1993, Anne Clarke released the album “The Law Is An Anagram Of Wealth” and collaborated with Tov Ramstad, Paul Downing, Martyn Bates and Andy Bell of Erasure. A year later, Anne Clark toured accompanied by an acoustic band, which was reflected in the “Psychometry” album recorded in Berlin. In the same fusion of electronics and acoustics she released the album “To Love And Be Loved” in 1995, where she featured the collaborations of Martyn Bates, Paul Downing, Andy Bell and Chris Elliot.

In 1996, several artists and producers paid tribute to Anne Clarke’s enormous influence with the remix album “Word-processing”, featuring the remixes by Mouse On Mars, Sven Vath, Pascal F.E.O.S., Saafi Bros., Juno Reactor, Total Eclipse, Global Youth, Hardfloor 97 and Aural Float. Two years later, Anne released the album “Just After Sunset” in collaboration with Martyn Bates and featuring translations of the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, which meant another move into the folk music. That same year she also collaborated with the Polish band Fading Colours in the album “I’m Scared Of…â€?.

Around November 2001, Anne first contacted guitarist Jeff Aug, who introduced her to Niko, Murat and Jan-Michael. This lead her to a new acoustic project. Though still performing the Wordprocessin the acoustic project eventually saw the light of day around November 2002. That same year she collaborated with the German band Blank and Jones performing the track “The Hardest Heart”.

Anne also collaborated with a track titled “Dittany” for guitarist Jeff Aug’s “Form” and in the “Self-Inflictedâ€? album by the Belgian artist Implant -aka Len Lemeire-. Anne Clark appears on two songs: “Tune Up Your Chips And Circuitsâ€? and “Surface Tensionâ€?. Apart from her known musical career Anne Clark has studied in the fields of Environment and Ecology.