Music Existence Because of Music, We Exist
When listening to The Quest by Clash Bowley for the first time, one is immediately struck by just how much he sounds a lot like Bauhaus’ Peter Murphy. He has one of those affected, menacing voices that grabs your attention tightly. There is an overall eeriness to this twelve-song set that hits, and hits hard.
Bowley has been making music for a long time, beginning in the ‘70s. He took a break, but then came back to it in 2010. He’s recorded plenty of music over the years, and tracked The Quest at his home studio and performed the majority of it himself.
The lyrics to Bowley songs are consistently mysterious. For instance, “Forty Days” carries with it a Biblical association. Oftentimes, pivotal events in that holy book lasted forty days and forty nights. Just what event is being described with this track, however, is difficult to decipher. The chorus states: “It was forty days/(Forty days of pain).” He goes on to explain how he was “bleeding pain” and “leaking blood.” Towards the track’s end, he gets a little more personal. He admits he was a mess, and “Needed you as well.” This implies he may have been in emotional pain after a separation from someone he loved.
Sonically, there is a lot of guitar on these songs, with sparse percussion and bass. Sometimes, the mood is creepily quiet. Such is certainly the case with “Visionary,” which allows for plenty of quiet space in its mix. He sings of how he doesn’t want to come down “from the infinite black.” Just what this ‘blackness’ actually is, though, he doesn’t really say. The song’s last verse adds that he doesn’t want to come down from “All the pain and failure/For years and years and years,” so this one also appears to address regret.
BANDCAMP: https://clashbowley.bandcamp.com/album/the-quest
Devilish lust is expressed with “I Said You Said,” where Bowley asks, “I asked were you an unbeliever?/You said you were a hot bombshell.” This is said after this “hot bombshell” explains how it’s hot in hell. All of this is sung a little like a Vincent Price of rock & roll.
Clash Bowley certainly has plenty to say, and one gets the impression this full-length is just the tip of the iceberg. His vocals range from low and conversational, to the higher range singing found on “Follow Me.” That lower voice is heard loud and clear during “The Hard Path.” This one sounds to be about a man who suffers for (and from) love. Bowley’s hard path on it is accompanied by echoey electric guitar. It’s followed by “Disobedience,” where Bowley can be heard providing backing vocals to his own lead vocal, exemplifying his DIY aesthetic of his art.
The Quest is certainly one dark journey. It delves deeply into the scary world of hurt, regret and emotional confusion. Thus, it’s not for the faint of heart. While pained, though, it’s never less than authentic. Perhaps Clash Bowley’s quest is for redemption of some kind. These are his confessions, which he hopes will bring some sort of forgiveness. Whatever it’s ultimately about, however, Bowley pulls no punches.
Dan MacIntosh
