There is something undoubtedly elemental at work in the aural concoctions that flow from the band, LARK. For the better part of a decade they have siphoned from the ether sonic potions capable of rendering vast throngs by turn both mute and manic. And, after a hiatus necessitated by producer Paul Ressel’s decision to relocate to London, they’re dabbling again. Crafting new magick to unleash upon the status quo. Wrestling a rare beauty into being. You will hear it early in the Year of the Dragon. It is, at this moment in time, dubbed Gong is Struck.
Inge Beckmann, vocalist, songwriter and enchantress, says of the title, “it was the final instruction in a ritual I was reading and it felt really powerful.” Simon Ratcliffe, long-time bassist and sound engineer for the group, adds that it’s apt insofar as they have come to consider this recording a sort of ultimatum, ‘the final push’ toward creating the necessary wave of momentum that will carry them to the next level. LARK’s trajectory has been, by Inge’s estimation, ‘weird.’ They’ve been met with critical acclaim every step of the way, their début album receiving one of the most prestigious awards on offer in our fair country. Time and again the press heralded the band as the most striking gem on the circuit and any punter worth their salt knows that to be attendant in the crowd at a LARK gig is to witness a seismic event. Yet the necessary critical mass that ought to propel the group to the interstellar heights they certainly deserve has been elusive. To the point that they kinda called it quits a few years ago.
It took RAMfest begging the group to perform at their annual hoe-down back in 2009 to get them firing all cylinders again and, since then, we’ve seen a slow but certain reconstitution happening. Inge offers that the band is something like a “Vitamin B-complex – slow-release, high-energy sort of thing.” From the ambition of successfully staging their Dagger and a Feather concert to the scorching set at Oppikoppi this year; supporting The Used on their recent tour, to showing the Isle of Wight a trick or two at Bestival, LARK are summoning energies untold and pouring it all into Gong is Struck and whatever mayhem follows upon its release. Inge and Paul began work on the record over a year ago, swapping demos and ideas through cyberspace, a process Inge says “was creatively invigorating, as we’d only send each other the very best material.” Sean Ou Tim, LARK’s drummer, has also enjoyed the process, saying that the remote collaboration “is allowing us to throw things at each other that perhaps wouldn’t arise if we were in the same room together.” Paul has also had the good fortune of being able to learn from and, he intimates, “to work with some of the best producers and mixers in the world. For this reason, the new LARK album is very focused and mature.” They road-tested a few new numbers on their recent tour and the crowd response was feral – a great omen for what’s to come.
Also in the works is a video for upcoming track Stole the Moon. Inge says it started out as a showcase for an upcoming production company. They asked Inge to star and planned to simply license relevant music, until Inge suggested perhaps making use of their new material. The director “was blown away”, she says, and agreed to it being re-purposed as a Lark music video. As with most things affiliated with the band, it’s an ambitious project replete with an attempt to send a camera into space.
So, before the world obliterates in late 2012, we will have the luxury of again being spellbound by one of the finest acts to emerge from our shores. Paul insists that upon release of Gong is Struck LARK will be “touring as much as possible.” See you in the pit, people.
01 Vampire by LARK
Image: Marcello Maffeis
BRAVE (original) – V – Onion Records by LARK
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