Clock DVA
Thirst

Reissued in 1992 after the publication of "Man-Amplified" by Contempo, an indie label from Florence that has greatly represented the Italian post-wave, EBM, and techno-industrial scene, "Thirst" can be categorized according to two different chronological-philological criteria: as the "second" album of the (then not yet) "duo" from Sheffield after the debut "White Souls In Black Suits", (reissued after the traumatic breakup of the contract with Interfish Rec, a German label that co-produced "Buried Dreams" with WaxTrax!) or, considering all productions, including demos, as the "sixth" work of the collective formed by Adi Newton, Stephen James "Judd" Turner (the core of Clocks), Roger Quail, Charlie Collins, David Hammond (the 1981 lineup, the time of the first printing of the album in question by Fetish Rec.); in the second case, we must mention the self-produced tapes by the "Dva" ("Two" in Russian) "Clock(-ward Orange") "Lomticks Of Time" (1978) Cassette 2nd (1978) Cassette DVATION 01 "Deep Floor" (1979) Cassette DVATION 02 "Fragment" (1979) Cassette DVATION 03, in addition to the aforementioned debut full-length "White Souls In Black Suits" (1980) IRC31 Industrial Rec. thanks to the interest of Genesis P-Orridge from Throbbing Gristle, meaning what at that time (early '80s) was "Industrial"; within a more "canonically" industrial framework - background noise effects, futuristic experimentalism, dadaist intertwining of atonal sounds, bizarre and nocturnal jazz, and everything that can be generally traced back to a concept of affinity with bands such as Cabaret Voltaire, Z'ev, In The Nursery, in addition to the aforementioned Throbbing Gristle, the early works of Clock DVA are inserted, along with another fundamental influence: the krautrock of the German Kraftwerk, for the more purely electropop component ante-litteram. This over the years will gradually take over the music of Clocks, (reformed as a duo after Turner's tragic passing, with the Advantage Research Station project) until their music takes on the shape of a "Digital Soundtrack" (paraphrasing the title of one of their latest albums) of our time.

From the polyinstrumental eclecticism of the beginnings, which cited rock expressionism,  jazz, and hallucinatory symphonic noise (In The Nursery) this "Thirst" seems to act as a "bridge" between the difficult and not very accessible sounds of the first tapes and the entirely electro albums and productions, perfect for the '90s, always a moment ahead of the times not being understood in time yet always so current, as little "easy" as they are influential on generations of other bands (let's say Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, VNV Nation...? shall we even dare a reference to "Mofo" by U2?) who might not even have been aware of it. It is no coincidence that precisely "Thirst" did not receive the same praise from ultra-specialized critics but marked a greater opening of the Dva's sound to new wave on one side and an elaborate EBM, with electro-pop cyber-gothic contours on the other. Even though it is not a concept album (as will be the subsequent "Buried Dreams" and "Man-Amplified"), the entire work carries within its thematic organicity the imprint of an implicit concept: "Sensorium" is perhaps the guiding track (at the conceptual/sonic level: one hears the typical wave setup) "Piano Pain" besides the "cry" of liberating/obsessive pain referenced in the title is the piece that comes closest to subsequent synth-electro and musique concrète productions (Coil/Etant Donnes), the splendid "Impression Of African Winter" is rarefied and still new wave of the finest grain of various groups of the era (you can hear echoes of the more restrained and atmospheric Joy Division), "4 Hours" is an impactful song, a piece with an overwhelming and wonderfully electro-punk-pop rhythm, but as always, it is necessary to "look" at the apocalyptic frame that surrounds it to be unsettled as well as fascinated: transversal is the lesson that Dva partly gathered from the forerunners of American New Wave (Velvet Underground, Suicide) reworking it in an ultra-sophisticated and intellectualized form, partly they have returned in a (as was written) often unaware form to generations of bands, electro and non-electro projects, (we can theoretically cite the entire TechnoPop and perhaps a good part of the current "important" electro, from William Orbit to the Dj Set of Bergen). Interviewed in 1992 Adi Newton declared with extreme clarity "it always happens like this: first our music was industrial, then new wave, now techno... it happens when critics cannot follow the evolution of those who truly innovate music; few do it, others adapt or try to perfect that model but the revolution of canons is another story". 1981. Today, in 2009 (2010), reading phrases like "this music is God crying tears of gold in Paradise" (NME) among "Victory Roses" electro-glitch and other "novelties" one might wonder if he was indeed right in this specific hyperbolic case too.

Hamingjusamur Nýár 

.:2:.