Last year we saw the return of the highly talented musician (and a favourite of ours here at Backseat Mafia) Charlie Clark with a new project called Yama Rama. This followed a turbulent few years leading to his return to his native Scotland and the release of his fantastic solo album ‘Late Night Drinking’ (see my review here), and then more trials and tribulations following its release. A festival Clark was organising – bringing much needed music to his remote region of Scotland – collapsed, leading to a cataclysm in his life. Clark explains this period is reflected in his new track:
‘Some Days’ was written about a month after my life fell apart in May 2023 when the event I’d been organising for the two years prior to that never took place. The song was written in the eye of the storm as it were. Going through liquidation, losing No Big Deal, my reputation screwed, breaking up with my partner and trying to keep it together enough to be a good Dad.
At a certain point antidepressants stopped working and hedonism, as appealing as it may seem, is not an option for me. In November last year I basically accepted I was going through “The Dark Night Of The Soul”…….again. Kind of a common thread on my records now.
‘Some Days’ has a cathartic element to it:
I just needed time alone to meditate on where to go from here. From that point I reevaluated what was important to me, what serves me, how I use my time and people I allow in my life. I had to completely shed a lot of emotional weight I’ve been carrying and everything that happened made me reevaluate why I do music. Writing the song basically helped me get through it.
The song sparkles like the stars above his native lands – guitars hang in the firmament, shimmering and reverberated, while Clark’s distinctive vocals are filled with a burning melancholia. A fuzzy interlude adds an iron spine to the psychedelic tones.
The accompanying monochrome video sees Clark performing against the wide open skies of his homeland, creating intense and powerful visuals. It was shot on the cliff tops of the village Gress, Clark’s birthplace on the Isle of Lewis and loosely inspired by elements of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s ‘El Topo’. Clark says of the video:
I wanted the video to feel intimate but with a sense of scale behind it. There’s such a distinct remoteness and sense of isolation where I come from and I wanted to capture that, looking beautiful but still haunting. I was lucky enough to have worked with the artist and photographer Nitin Vadukul (Iggy Pop, Radiohead, Snoop) before he passed away in 2018 (Iggy Pop, Radiohead, Snoop) when I lived in the US. We edited a number of music videos together, so there’s a lot of little nods to Nitin in this video.
There is a sparse beauty that is as breathtaking as the song:
It is just fantastic to see Clark dust himself down and get back into the saddle. Clark always has an eloquence in his delivery that captures the deeply personal but deals with feelings and emotions that resonate with us all. His is a prodigious talent that deserves to be heard widely.
‘Some Days’ is out now and available to stream and download here and through the link below.
Yama Rama will be launching the single on 22 May in Glasgow – details and tickets available here.
