Clark + Paul Hartnoll
The Old Market, Hove
★★★★

VIDEO projections depicting sketches of pagan ritual in blood red and sepia envelop the four walls of Hove’s intimate independent music and theatre venue, The Old Market, as Paul Hartnoll, one half of the Orbital brothers, dons his trademark head-mounted lights to perform his new so-called Folk-Horror-Electro-Techno-Disco Roadshow.

The set is a bouncy, sample-heavy rave mash-up of cult children’s TV and folk-horror film classics including The Wicker Man, Children of the Stones and The Box of Delights — even the mice from Bagpuss get some airtime — while also showcasing some of his collaborations with Confidence Man and Irish rap trio Kneecap.

He’s the perfect support to another prolific music producer, Clark, whose musical shapeshifting has seen him compose scores for film, TV, video games and contemporary dance; his talents fully realised on 2021’s neoclassical composition Playground In A Lake, an album inspired by climate change.

A one-time shining star of esteemed electronic label Warp Records, Clark has returned to his deconstructed dancefloor roots on latest album Steep Stims — much of which is mixed into his set tonight.

The haunting soundscapes and squelchy bass of Infinite Roller give way to the granular, floaty glitch melodies of No Pills U and Janus Modal, the enclosing video projections bringing an all-immersive, cinematic experience to the party.

Then there’s the broken piano chords of 18EDO Bailiff and Globecore Flats, which could have come straight from the William Basinski rulebook, the latter morphing into a rapturous drum and bass cacophony.

Blowtorch Thimble is reminiscent of Squarepusher’s best, while the techno stomper Civilians sees its video of jelly-eating dancers in surround.

Since its release earlier this month, Steep Stims has been heralded as a nostalgic homage to Clark’s many electronic music influences, one too eclectic to be pigeonholed into any single genre. Here’s to hoping that there’s more where this came from.

Clark performs in Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow in March next year. For more info visit throttleclark.com/live. Steep Stims was released by Throttle Records on November 7 2025.