cln is a producer and artist from Australia who we have featured many times already on our playlists for internet radio (here and here). Our radio listeners are already intimately familiar with his beautifully chilled mix of alternative R&B and electronic pop. A bit like fellow countryman Golden Vessel, his aesthetic is very broad, so that his range of styles can often surprise you: the production value is always impeccable, and the thread that weaves his art together is the unique and instantly recognizable timbre of his vocal and his attention to rhythmic details.
Latest single "Endlessly" is a celebration of svelte groove and musical elegance, while cln explores his own passion for ecoacoustic research and matches it with his talent for modern music. This hauntingly beautiful track was inspired by the sounds of a wild Albert’s Lyrebird calling out in the rain, presented in striking detail on the single's artwork by Cleo Daley. Against a backdrop of ambient rainforest, cln mimics the plaintive sound of the bird with a touching melody and classical-style piano that is soon joined by his signature beats and warm analog synths. In his creative way, cln extends the conversation that we need to have about conservation and the extent to which we take the natural world for granted into this hidden space, and for a moment we can all savor the simple beauty of a rare, lonely bird, yowling in the rain.
The idea for this track started when I was out doing fieldwork in the rain. I was about to pack up for the day and head home when an Albert’s Lyrebird started calling in the rainforest near me. Lyrebirds are some of Australia’s most well-known birds. They are the mimics that you often see in Youtube videos or nature documentaries. The species that you usually see in those films is the Superb Lyrebird, which are mostly found further south in New South Wales and Victoria. They are reasonably common and widespread. In Queensland rainforests though, we have the Albert’s Lyrebird. It’s usually a little bit shyer and more difficult to see. It’s also a threatened species and occupies quite a small range in Southern Queensland and Northern NSW...the Albert’s Lyrebird was calling so beautifully that I had to stop what I was doing and record it. I work with Lyrebirds fairly frequently and hear them often, but there was something special about this lone bird calling in the rain.
Burn another bridge up,
Running in the rip stop,
When we fall asleep,
I’ll know
Tell me all your secrets,
Burn it up to pretence,
Broken down until the end
Endlessly,
Come to me,
Make you see,
Oh
Artwork by Cleo Daley.
The music of cln has been likened to a mix between James Blake, ford. and Odesza. He is a huge bird sound nerd and can identify most species in South-east Queensland by the noises that they make.
Visit cln on Instagram.
