Lark (band)
Encyclopedia
Lark is a four-piece electronica
band from South Africa based in Cape Town
, who have been one of the key contributors to the rising Experimental
and IDM
crossover scene who have created a solid Grassroots
following in South Africa, England and Germany through their EP
Mouth of Me but have gained mainstream success through their debut album Razbliuto
.
, analog systems and laptop
) and Ratcliffe on bass (upright and electric
) and woodwinds. These sessions soon turned into the band's debut, Mouth of Me. They started gigging in April 2003.
The band won several awards including best South African alternative album. Despite its international success and loyal fanbase, the band was surprisingly not scheduled for Coke Fest 2008 in Johannesburg, which was considered the essential step to achieve international publicity.
, where they held the sessions for their first full-length album, "Mouth of Me".
The album contained massively popular tracks including Tricksy and Moonlight which were accompanied by a stunningly produced music video for Moonlight. Introduction to the mainstream population was given a boost when the Moonlight video was added to the play list of MK89
("Musiek Kanaal" on Satellite TV provider DSTV
channel 89), where it was accepted with open arms due to the more demure tone of the track and it's visually stunning video.
and the The Star
.
In April 2007, the album won a SAMA
for "Best Alternative Album".
During the last quarter of 2007, Lark performed tracks from this album to a very excited crowd at the biggest event of the biannual Oppikoppi festival. Their performance was one of the biggest attractions and most celebrated of the 2007 event, leaving the overwhelmed crowds wanting more.
In 2010 Lark took on the stage at Ramfest once more to deliver their latest musical offerings along with some reworked tracks as well as launching their new single Vampire on their latest release titled V. The EP features before unreleased tracks Brave and Vampire along with remixes of Vampire by Mr. Sakitumi and Brave by electro producer Haezer.
. Lark may also be said to display a striking similarity to international groups such as Massive Attack and Portishead: firstly because both of these bands combine electronic sequencers with live instrumentation and sample manipulation (as Ressel states on his website: "The one thing I have tried to put forward in all my music is a fusion between organic sounds/acoustic instruments and mechanical electronica/digital programming,") and secondly because both groups feature a female lead voice. The resulting sound is eclectic, drawing on the rock, Western classical, electronic, and world vernaculars - everything from electric guitar to harpsichord to Aphex Twin-esque snare rushes to Ratcliffe's duduk
. Classically-trained singer Beckmann (who previously worked with industrial hip-hop group The Spindle Sect ) variously describes Lark's music as "alternative electro", "glitch opera", and "Nintendo-electro" on her MySpace page.
Paul Ressel: music production & instrumentation, electric guitar
Simon "Fuzzy" Ratcliffe: upright bass, electric bass, flute, duduk
Sean Ou Tim: drum kit (acoustic and electronic)
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
band from South Africa based in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, who have been one of the key contributors to the rising Experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
and IDM
Intelligent dance music
Intelligent dance music is a term that describes an electronic music genre that emerged in the early 1990s. The genre is influenced by a wide range of musical styles particularly electronic dance music such as Detroit Techno...
crossover scene who have created a solid Grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
following in South Africa, England and Germany through their EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Mouth of Me but have gained mainstream success through their debut album Razbliuto
Razbliuto
Razbliuto is the full length debut album of Electronica band Lark which was released in August 2006. After their debut EP 'Mouth Of Me', the band started pre-production on the album in December 2005 and in May 2006 they entered Sound and Motion Studios with their newly joined drummer Sean Ou Tim...
.
Band history
Lark was originally started as Inge Beckmann's solo project which was produced by Paul Ressel (also known as The Humanizer). While recording they met Simon "Fuzzy" Ratcliffe, who was the sound engineer and session musician at Sound & Motion Studios working on their recordings. While recording they asked Fuzzy to join the band. Lark then consisted out of Beckmann on vocals, Ressel on electronics (sequencersMusic sequencer
The music sequencer is a device or computer software to record, edit, play back the music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically :...
, analog systems and laptop
Laptop
A laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...
) and Ratcliffe on bass (upright and electric
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
) and woodwinds. These sessions soon turned into the band's debut, Mouth of Me. They started gigging in April 2003.
The band won several awards including best South African alternative album. Despite its international success and loyal fanbase, the band was surprisingly not scheduled for Coke Fest 2008 in Johannesburg, which was considered the essential step to achieve international publicity.
Mouth of Me
After their first few gigs, they recruited popular session musician Sean Ou Tim on drums and entered Sound & Motion Studios in Cape TownCape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
, where they held the sessions for their first full-length album, "Mouth of Me".
The album contained massively popular tracks including Tricksy and Moonlight which were accompanied by a stunningly produced music video for Moonlight. Introduction to the mainstream population was given a boost when the Moonlight video was added to the play list of MK89
MK89
MK is a mostly Afrikaans music channel, launched in mid 2005, as MK89, that is part of the DStv bouquet of satellite channels owned by MultiChoice/M-Net, based in South Africa. MK is for Musiek Kanaal and 89 was the original channel number on DStv satellite decoders...
("Musiek Kanaal" on Satellite TV provider DSTV
DStv
DStv is MultiChoice's multi-channel digital satellite TV service in Africa, launched in 1995. It operates from two satellites over Africa, broadcasting on Ku band via Eutelsat W7 and Intelsat 7 , which only requires a small satellite dish...
channel 89), where it was accepted with open arms due to the more demure tone of the track and it's visually stunning video.
Razbliuto
After the success of Mouth Of Me, the group produced their second album named Razbliuto. Razbliuto was released in August 2006 to rave reviews from newspapers The Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times (South Africa)
The Sunday Times is a popular South African Sunday newspaper. It has an audited circulation of 504,000 and a weekly readership of 3.2 million, making it the largest weekly newspaper in South Africa. Recently it was involved in exposing a corruption scandal involving the South African government's...
and the The Star
The Star (South Africa)
The Star is a daily newspaper based in Gauteng, South Africa. It has a readership of 840 000 and is owned by Independent News & Media. It gained worldwide attention in 2006 when it published survey results according to which about twenty percent of South African men have raped a woman in...
.
In April 2007, the album won a SAMA
South African Music Awards
The South African Music Awards are an annual award ceremony, run by the Recording Industry of South Africa , where accolades are presented to members of South Africa's music industry. Winners receive a statuette is called a SAMA. The event was established in 1995...
for "Best Alternative Album".
During the last quarter of 2007, Lark performed tracks from this album to a very excited crowd at the biggest event of the biannual Oppikoppi festival. Their performance was one of the biggest attractions and most celebrated of the 2007 event, leaving the overwhelmed crowds wanting more.
2009-Present
After a time Paul Ressel felt it was time to leave South Africa and go to the UK and the band had to take a hiatus. In 2009, Ramfest (an annual South African music festival) invited Lark to perform for the first time in a year and to do a national tour, no one expected the level of support they received on that tour which only confirmed that Lark is indeed one of South Africa’s best loved acts. The band released a live DVD titled ‘A Dagger and A Feather’ of one of their greatest stage performances of their career at the Pavilion Theatre in Cape Town, South Africa.In 2010 Lark took on the stage at Ramfest once more to deliver their latest musical offerings along with some reworked tracks as well as launching their new single Vampire on their latest release titled V. The EP features before unreleased tracks Brave and Vampire along with remixes of Vampire by Mr. Sakitumi and Brave by electro producer Haezer.
Style
Lark's music, according to their MySpace page, is influenced by artists such as Radiohead; Paul Ressel's MySpace page once stated that he was initially a rock musician, but was exposed to electronic music through Radiohead's milestone album Kid AKid A
Kid A is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released in October 2000 by the Parlophone label. A commercial success worldwide, Kid A went platinum in its first week of release in the United Kingdom. Despite the lack of an official single or music video as publicity, Kid A...
. Lark may also be said to display a striking similarity to international groups such as Massive Attack and Portishead: firstly because both of these bands combine electronic sequencers with live instrumentation and sample manipulation (as Ressel states on his website: "The one thing I have tried to put forward in all my music is a fusion between organic sounds/acoustic instruments and mechanical electronica/digital programming,") and secondly because both groups feature a female lead voice. The resulting sound is eclectic, drawing on the rock, Western classical, electronic, and world vernaculars - everything from electric guitar to harpsichord to Aphex Twin-esque snare rushes to Ratcliffe's duduk
Duduk
The duduk , traditionally known since antiquity as a Ծիրանափող is a traditional woodwind instrument indigenous to Armenia. Variations of it are popular in the Middle East and Central Asia...
. Classically-trained singer Beckmann (who previously worked with industrial hip-hop group The Spindle Sect ) variously describes Lark's music as "alternative electro", "glitch opera", and "Nintendo-electro" on her MySpace page.
Band members
Inge Beckmann: vocalsPaul Ressel: music production & instrumentation, electric guitar
Simon "Fuzzy" Ratcliffe: upright bass, electric bass, flute, duduk
Duduk
The duduk , traditionally known since antiquity as a Ծիրանափող is a traditional woodwind instrument indigenous to Armenia. Variations of it are popular in the Middle East and Central Asia...
Sean Ou Tim: drum kit (acoustic and electronic)
Discography
- Mouth of Me (EP) (2005)
- RazbliutoRazbliutoRazbliuto is the full length debut album of Electronica band Lark which was released in August 2006. After their debut EP 'Mouth Of Me', the band started pre-production on the album in December 2005 and in May 2006 they entered Sound and Motion Studios with their newly joined drummer Sean Ou Tim...
(2006) - Mouth of Me (2007)
- A Dagger and a Feather (Live DVD) (2008)
- V (EP) (2010)