Marie Davidson has always defied norms in dance music, with her albums often blending introspective storytelling with diverse sounds. Returning with her latest offering in ‘City of Clowns’, the artist goes back to her roots of deepened electronic music, fusing her iconic thumping techno, integrated with scathing spoken word delivery, with elements of structured pop and melodic sensibilities. With a multitude of influences, Marie Davidson constructed the album through the rise of the information age, influential social commentators who have been present throughout her life, and her technical advances as a musician.
Inspired by information in the technological age, Davidson’s ‘City Of Clowns’ acts as a social commentary and holds a mirror up to how music reflects itself with the trends of its times. The presence of Shoshana Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, a book that Davidson read whilst developing the album, manifests itself regularly throughout the via track titles, lyrical references, and creative choices, with album opener ‘Validations Weight’ offering an early insight into this concept. Through cinematic synths that are met with pounding bass beats, blended with Davidson’s vocals and Amazon’s text-to-speech tool Polly midway, that in the end is completely overtaken by Polly, the opening single is a key signifier of the direction the artist is taking in the record.
The book consumed her, becoming a great source of alarm as well as inspiration. With, in her opinion, humanity failing and giving itself over to technology, we further see this demonstrated within the paranoid electro pulse of ‘Statistical Modelling’, a track motioned by fast tempo high arpeggio notes that ring bright with a sense of urgency, and later in ‘Demolition’. A previously released single from the album, ‘Demolition’ delves into the grooving, heavy pounding beats with clear influences from her previous collaborators, Soulwax, and sees Davidson speaking from the voice of the machine. Citing “I do what I want, and I do it well”, in a deep, warped voice, the release conflicts itself with the power dynamics of everyday technology, as Davidson explains: “It’s seductive. It lures you into thinking that you are the user, but you’re the one being used.”
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However, alongside the cynical approach to the music, Davidson also has capacity to make light of a situation, finding influence from when she discovered comedians like Bill Hicks, Wanda Sykes and George Carlin, storytellers whose observational styles are derisive and surrealistic, yet constantly in search for the real meaning. Similar to the aforementioned influences in the artist’s life, Davidson also utilises her craft as a vehicle to discover her place in the world as an artist, women, and entertainer, with this again being evident on ‘City Of Clowns’. Whilst the body of work contains complexities of modern advances, it has the capacity to find light in present times, with the likes of ‘Fun Times’, continuing in the same beat and synth approach as before, yet with a more euphoric undertone, and ‘Sexy Clown’ which is developed through further driven vocals, and infused with pulsating beats designed for dancing.
Furthering on the themes that present itself throughout, Davidson began DJing in 2022, presenting the understanding of how to build, and bring down pressure at appropriate moments. ‘Contrarian’ is the perfect example of this, it fuels the ending of a high octane DJ set who has delivered a sonic journey, as the track takes it to the roots of techno, with a thundering beat, strong 303s, and an extended breakdown. Meanwhile finishing the captivating album, with the appropriately named ‘Unknowing’, perhaps a continued nod to the neverending pursuit of research, continues in the techno focused, yet dub-infused aspects, that closes the project out in style.
Davidson’s latest record is detailed through raw sounding synths, hard hitting basslines, and arguably the artist’s best work to date, utilising the project’ to explore aspects of her sound that hadn’t been touched upon before. Delving into the modern complexities of society, her personal inspirations throughout her life, and developments of self as an artist and producer, the album reminds listeners to question and demonstrate awareness, whilst musically reaches new heights for the producer.
8/10
Words: Ben Broyd
Inset Photo: Nadine Fraczkowski
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