Clark Announces The Last Panthers

Last year, Clark scored the "The Last Panthers," a six-part crime thriller TV series that aired on Canal+/Sky Atlantic. Now, he's announced a new album with music from and inspired by the show. It's called The Last Panthers and it's out March 18 via Warp. Check out the tracklisting, read what he had to say about The Last Panthers, and watch a trailer for the album below.

David Bowie composed the theme song for "The Last Panthers." Co-producers Warp Films are bringing the show to U.S. television on SundanceTV later this year.

Clark released the Flame Rave EP last year. His last full-length was 2014's Clark. Read our Guest List interview with him.

I was quite shocked when I heard all the final cues from "Panthers," lined up in the exact order they appear in the show, in a clinical linear fashion. I thought, "there's no way that's an album as it is." There were about 60 tracks for a start. I felt like I had to rescue it from being a conventional exposition of the music in the series, so I went on an immense chiselling/editing mission and also started writing new material. I think it works as a standalone album, it's a continuous slab of liquid melancholy, it resonates through harmony and texture. Rhythm felt less important.

[Series director] Johan [Renck] has incredibly broad, open-minded taste. "Make it more satanic, biblical" was his favourite direction. He hates handclaps too. I'm sure I managed to slip a few in there somewhere. The hard thing was reducing it to a signature "Panthers" palette. The most fun part was recording huge chunks of me playing viola, and then treating the recordings like errant students in need of guitar pedal discipline. It's an amazing feeling to play your own string parts, even though they sound quite scuffed, it brings a grit that I can't resist. I wanted to create an unsettling, brittle sonic universe that reflected the tragic downward trajectory of the characters lives, with moments of immense enveloping warmth and softness.

The Last Panthers:

01 Back to Belgrade
02 Hiero-Bosch for Khalil
03 Diamonds Aren't Forever
04 Panthers Bass Plock
05 Chloroform Sauna
06 Serbian Daffodil
07 Naomi Pleen
08 Open Foe
09 Strangled to Death in a Public Toilet
10 Cryogenic
11 Brother Killer
12 Omni Vignette
13 Actual Jewels
14 Dead Eyes for Zvlatko / Heaven Theme
15 Diamonds Aren't Forever II
16 Upward Evaporation
17 Hide on the Treads 1
18 Hide on the Treads 2
19 Hide on the Treads 3

Watch Clark perform his "Unreleased" live set at Pitchfork Music Festival 2015:

via Matthew Strauss