ALBUM REVIEW: Liquid Portraits by Clap! Clap!

Late to the Party – reviews of older music that you may not have heard.

I’ve long enjoyed the concept of ‘beautiful chaos’, in art. When the seemingly disordered creates something whole and beautiful, I think this is one of the most thrilling expressions of art. Liquid Portraits by Clap! Clap! seems to inhabit this beautiful chaos, but everything is thoughtfully and deliberately   placed, creating something special.   

Like the name suggests, the album is a collection of sonic-paintings created by Italian producer and DJ, Cristiano Crisci, a.k.a. Clap! Clap! Though I hesitate to ‘genre’ this album, Crisci comfortably plays with contemporary jazz, afro-beats, traditional drums and instruments to create a complex electronic album, rich with colour. 

As with all art, I don’t want to try and attach meaning to what Clap! Clap! has created, but rather breakdown how he made it, and why it makes it so compelling. Most striking about the album is how painterly it comes across. If you listen to it in the context of abstract paintings, you can hear the physicality, energy and colours of the musician at work. It’s the unpredictable markings of a Pollock. It’s the segmented moments in a Rothko. It’s the erratic storytelling of a Basquiat.

Crisci is an electronic musician that understands the best electronic music is filled with organic sounds. Liquid Portraits is not all 808’s and excessive house-synths. It has textural highs and lows that come from field recordings, traditional percussion, unique vocals performances, and yes, the sound of  liquid. The track “Quietude”, my personal favourite, has one core sample that successfully flavours and drives the entire track; a squeaky hinge. This sound alone gives the track structure and direction whilst a jazz piano flutters beneath it and a series of polyrhythms pan from left to right. This is clever and deliberate beat making. 

Arguably the most “conventional” track – massive air quotes required – is called “Moving On” and features vocalist Martha Da’ro. It sits comfortably in the middle of the album and creates a reset moment. As a listener, the first half of the album had my full attention, where I focused on the beat-making and various clever motifs. It was introductory and explorative. The track has just enough hooks and pop-sensibilities to allow me to settle back and just absorb the remainder of the album.  To me, this is how I enjoy albums – fascinate me first, then allow me to relax and enjoy. 

This is not to say that the second half of the album calms down. Across all 12 tracks you are continuously met with polyrhythms, new sounds and stonking-big bass drops that audibly shoves you from one space to another. This is what drives the work as a whole. Clap! Clap! seemingly never runs out of flavours and colours to paint with, giving you more and more across the album. Never stale, never samey. 

It would be remiss of me to not mention the actual visual art of the album. Artist RUFFMERCY has a style that perfectly reflects this album. His painterly-collages pair with what Clap! Clap!’ has created, adding to the album’s narrative and tone. This is thoughtful and considered album-craft. 

All this culminates in an electronic album that is full of energy, colour and craftsmanship. Clap! Clap! has the confidence and ability to mix endless layers of sound into cohesive pieces of music. He uses every minute of every track to throw as many things at the listener as he can, without ever letting the music slip into slop. The album retains momentum, clarity and engrossing songwriting. 

I’m late to the party, but Liquid Portraits by Clap! Clap! is a brilliant album of musical portraiture, created by an artist, embracing beautiful chaos. Put it in the Louvre! 

Top 3 Tracks 
“Hokkaido Farewell Portrait”
“Moving On”
“Quietude”