Marie Davidson has consistently challenged the conventions of dance music, with her albums frequently merging introspective narratives with an array of sounds. In her latest release, ‘City of Clowns’, she returns to her electronic music roots, combining her signature thumping techno and incisive spoken word delivery with structured pop elements and melodic sensibilities. Influenced by a range of sources, Davidson crafted the album amidst the rise of the information age, drawing from prominent social commentators throughout her life, alongside her growth as a musician.
Inspired by the information-driven technological era, Davidson’s ‘City Of Clowns’ serves as a social critique, reflecting how music embodies the trends of its time. Shoshana Zuboff’s book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, which Davidson read during the album’s creation, frequently resonates throughout the project via track titles, lyrical references, and artistic choices, with the album opener ‘Validations Weight’ providing an early glimpse into this theme. Featuring cinematic synths paired with driving bass beats, and interspersed with Davidson’s vocals alongside Amazon’s text-to-speech tool Polly, which eventually dominates the track, the opening single marks a significant indication of the artist’s direction in this record.
The book captivated her, serving as both a source of alarm and inspiration. Believing humanity is failing as it submits to technology, she highlights this sentiment in the paranoid electro pulse of ‘Statistical Modelling’, characterized by rapid tempo high arpeggios that echo a sense of urgency, and later in ‘Demolition’. A previously released single, ‘Demolition’ explores grooving beats with heavy pounding, drawing clear inspiration from her past collaborators, Soulwax, as Davidson channels the perspective of a machine. With the declaration, “I do what I want, and I do it well,” delivered in a deep, manipulated voice, the track challenges the power dynamics of everyday technology, as Davidson remarks: “It’s seductive. It tricks you into believing you are the user, but you’re the one being used.”
However, despite this cynical approach, Davidson also possesses the ability to find levity in situations, influenced by her admiration for comedians like Bill Hicks, Wanda Sykes, and George Carlin, who, through their observational humor, seek deeper truths. Much like these influences, Davidson employs her artistry as a means to explore her identity as an artist, a woman, and an entertainer, which is evident on ‘City Of Clowns’. While the work grapples with the complexities of modern advancements, it also finds moments of brightness, as seen in tracks like ‘Fun Times’, which maintains a similar beat and synth style but introduces a more euphoric tone, and ‘Sexy Clown’, characterized by driven vocals and pulsating dance-inducing beats.
Continuing the exploration of these themes, Davidson began DJing in 2022, gaining insight into how to build and release tension in her sets. ‘Contrarian’ exemplifies this, serving as a culmination of a high-energy DJ performance, taking listeners back to the roots of techno with its thunderous beat, powerful 303s, and a lengthy breakdown. The album concludes with ‘Unknowing’, aptly named perhaps to allude to the ongoing quest for knowledge, featuring techno-focused yet dub-infused elements that stylishly wrap up the project.
Davidson’s latest record is characterized by raw synth sounds and impactful basslines, arguably representing her finest work to date, as she uses this project to explore dimensions of her sound previously unaddressed. By examining the modern complexities of society, her personal inspirations, and her evolution as an artist and producer, the album encourages listeners to reflect and stay vigilant, all while musically elevating to new heights for the producer.
8/10
Words: Ben Broyd
Inset Photo: Nadine Fraczkowski
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Marie Davidson has consistently challenged conventions in dance music, frequently merging reflective narratives with a variety of sounds in her albums. She is back with her