Clarence Clarity, is a Glitch Pop, Electronic, and R&B English singer, songwriter, producer, and musician. He has produced for Rina Sawayama and Dorian Electra and remixed for Charli XCX and Lady Gaga, among others.
His singing style "was originally meant to be a combination of Justin Timberlake and Devendra Banhart, but sorta evolved naturally from there"
while his production style "sounds like the Clip Art of an ancient supernatural race of cyborgs, lost in the mystical woods of your darkest, yet purest secrets."
open/close all folders
Discography
Albums/extended plays
- Save †hyself (2013)
- Who Am Eye (2014)
- No Now (2015)
- Same (2016)
- Think: Peace (2018)
- Dead Screen Scrolls (Ambient Works, Vol. 1) (2020)
- Vanishing Act I: No Nouns (2021)
Mixtapes
- Aerobic Exorcise (2020)
- Your Wrong (2021)
- Your Wrong To (2022)
- Your3 Wrong (2023)
Singles
- "Alive in the Septic Tank" (2013)
- "Those Who Can't, Cheat" (2014)
- "Bloodbarf" (2014)
- "Buck-Toothed Particle Smashers" (2015)
- "Will to Believe" (2015)
- "Splitting Hairs" (2016)
- "Telenovela" (2016)
- "Vapid Feels Are Vapid" (2016)
- "W€ CHANG€" (2017)
- "Fold 'Em" (2017)
- "Telenovela" (2017)
- "Anthropic Principles" (2017)
- "Naysayer Godslayer" (2017)
- "Next Best Thing" (2018)
- "Adam & The Evil" (2018)
- "Rafters" (2018)
- "Adam & the Evil" (2018)
- "1985" (2018)
- "Untrust In Us Together" (2017)
- "Del Rey Dreamhouse (2017)
- "Bipolar Rainbows" (2018)
- "Deafening Red" (2018)
- "Leave Earth" (2018)
- "Sob Story" (2018)
Tropes:
General tropes
- Genre-Busting: The blend of styles to be found in Clarence's music has been described as "funk played by a swarm of bees" by The Guardian.
- Genre Throwback: Eighties and Nineties R&B and Boy Band sounds can be found in some of his material:"A couple of people have picked up on a sort of Backstreet Boys, Justin Timberlake kind of thing. I love it. I definitely embody some of that disgusting, packaged thing when I do vocal performances."
-
Reclusive Artist: Though apparently not intentional:"I never set out for this to be an anonymous, mystery thing,” he says, rolling his eyes. “It wasn’t calculated. People interpret it like that, but it was more just to put the music first. I want people to judge it on its own merits before they worry about trying to find out who I am. It shouldn’t necessarily matter." - Singing Voice Dissonance: Clarence often sings in his upper register; his speaking voice is comparatively low.
Tropes that apply to his music
- Album Intro Track: "Become Death", "CC-Wave", "There Is a Train Coming" all serve as short preludes before No Now, Think: Peace, and Vanishing Act I: No Nouns respectively.
- Bonus Material: "Once in the Styx" and "Spinner" appear on an alternate version of No Now.
- Break-Up Song:
- "Naysayer, Magick Obeyer":
"Maybe I’ve written you a love song
’Cause I still need you
But it won’t do no good
It isn’t over when it’s over
’Cause I still feel it
But it won’t do no good"- "Tru(e) Love":
"When you were all mine
Yeah we were the only one true love
Now I’ll never know" - Call-Back: In the lyrics of "Untrust In Us Together," "Was gonna put it off, But you said, "No, now," referencing his 2015 album title.
- Cover Version: Metallica's "Enter Sandman", produced for Rina Sawayama.
- Driven to Suicide: "Golden Gate": "Between the waves and fear and my demise…Hey world, I'mma float off the bridge on the Bay"
- Gratuitous Japanese: The title of "KADYクソPERRY".
- Lockdown: ''Dead Screen Scrolls' was released during the COVID-19 pandemic; "this is the kinda music i make when i don't know what else to do with myself. Didn't know if i was ever gonna release it, but thought it might help in this weird situation right now"
- Looped Lyrics: "Leave Earth":"NEVER LEAVE ME
NEVER LEAVE ME
NEVER LEAVE ME
NEVER LEAVE ME
NEVER LEAVE ME…" - Incest Subtext: "Buck-Toothed Particle Smashers".
- Love Hurts: Much of Think: Peace; see "Vapid Feels Ain’t Vapid" especially.
- Lucky Charms Title: "W€ CHANG£", "SU฿LORD", "Save †hyself".
- Meet Cute: The set-up of "Those Who Can’t, Cheat", with Mind Screw flavoring.
- Messianic Archetype: Particularly a dark one; found throughout No Now in songs such as "The Gospel Truth" and 'Alive in the Septic Tank".
- New Technology Is Evil: The Narcissist in "Off My Grid" experiences this:"Talk to me, through a screen
Talk to me, like I’m real
…
I’m addicted to myself
Got vindictive desires" - Non-Appearing Title: Many of these throughout his discography, including but not limited to: "Alive In The Septic Tank", "Buck-Toothed Particle Smashers", "Those Who Can't, Cheat", "Meadow Hopping, Traffic Stopping, Death Splash", "1-800-WORSHIP", "Adam & the Evil*", and "False Positive".
- Numerological Motif: Referenced in "Law of Fives"; In the Principia Discordia: "All things happen in fives, or are divisible by or are multiples of five, or are somehow directly or indirectly appropriate to five."
- Obsession Song: "Obsessed (With My Shadow Self)".
- Questioning Title?: "SAME?" and "That's Life (I Guess...?)".
- Rearrange the Song: Clarence has had alternate versions of many of his songs, from the Dummy Mix variations of No Now tracks (compare "Those Who Can, Preach! to "Those Who Can't, Cheat") to "Leave Earth" variations of "Think: Peace" tracks (i.e. "Naysayer, Magick Obeyer" vs "Naysayer Godslayer").
- Record Producer: For his own work and notably for Rina Sawayama.
- Religion Rant Song: "Alive in the Septic Tank", and many others:"I hang in limbo ’cause your
Saviour looked the other way" - Reptilian Conspiracy: "Meadow Hopping, Traffic Stopping, Death Splash"."I was in Hollywood at the Witch House
With the reptiles and the Catholics" - Sampling:
- The Staple Singers - "I'll Take You There" is briefly sampled in "Naysayer Godslayer"
- Sensory Abuse: Quite prevalant in his production style.
- Shadow Archetype: Revealed more so in the title than the lyrics of "Obsessed (With My Shadow Self)".
- Subliminal Seduction: "Tathagātagarbha" is silent, unless you turn it up, in which case you hear "KILL" and, in reverse, the coordinates 51.220570, -0.795123. "CC-Wave", the intro track to "Think: Peace" includes Clarence saying "think peace" very quietly.
- Textless Album Cover: No Now, Leave Earth, Dead Screen Scrolls.
- Trade Snark: "Cancer™ In The Water".
- A Wild Rapper Appears!: SHADI in "Fold 'Em"; A.J. Crew in "Rafters".
- Word Salad Lyrics: "Let’s Shoot Up".
Tropes that apply to his music videos
- Animated Music Video: "Those Who Can't, Cheat", "Will to Believe", "Meadow Hopping, Traffic Stopping, Death Splash", "SU฿LORD".
- Arc Symbol: The Discordian Law of Fives symbol can be found in "Those Who Can't, Cheat" and "Will to Believe".
- Deliberate VHS Quality: "Vapid Feels Are Vapid".
- Digital Head Swap: Shown on the TV in the video for "Vapid Feels Are Vapid".
- Gratuitous Japanese: In the lyric video for "Will to Believe".
- Retraux: "Vapid Feels Are Vapid".
- Surreal Music Video: Applies to almost every Clarence Clarity video, but look especially to "Those Who Can't, Cheat".
