Anne Clark - Our Darkness [Dark Entries]

Format: 12" in printed sleeve.
CAT: DE-340

Doubting all the time. Fearing all the time. Our Darkness arrives at Dark Entries in a reissue of Anne Clark’s proto-house masterpiece originally released in 1984.

As a young poet, Clark was drawn to London’s emerging punk scene. There, she met David Harrow, a Psychic TV collaborator, with whom she would work on the albums Changing Places (1983) and Joined Up Writing (1984). “Our Darkness,” taken from the latter, was released as a single by Ink Records that same year and became a hit in underground clubs.

This is a unique piece: Clark’s lyrics, delivered with a mix of steadfastness and vulnerability, speak of urban alienation and heartbreak, while Harrow’s production pounds with mechanical rhythms and melancholic arpeggios. The spirit of the song proved influential for the early Chicago house and Detroit techno scenes, where mechanized funk and existential despair could unleash authentic moments of euphoria on the dance floor.

This reissue includes three versions of “Our Darkness”: the original 12” remix, the Razormaid Mix, and a previously unreleased dub version discovered by David Harrow. Also included are the extended version of “Sleeper in Metropolis,” another Clark dancefloor classic, as well as the evocative “Poem for a Nuclear Romance.”

The record includes an insert with liner notes and lyrics. “Our Darkness” channels a timeless longing and a deeply contemporary unease, a classic that deserved to receive the attention it has always merited once again.