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Adam Mark Crisp (born c. 1985), known by the stage nameClarence Clarity, is an English singer, songwriter, producer, and musician.[2] He has been praised for his unique, eclectic pop sound which was described by The Guardian as "funk played by a swarm of bees",[2] and is noted for his high degree of anonymity regarding his life outside of making music. Despite the similarity, Crisp has stated that his stage name was not overtly influenced by the meme template 'Sudden Clarity Clarence'.[3]
Born in London and raised in Yateley and Fleet, Hampshire,[4][5] Crisp played with several rock bands in the 2000s. He released an album Acres Of Dead Space Cadets on Brighton Electric with Elle Milano. Following this he worked on small label Stella Mortos, moving into electronica under the name Entrepreneurs, and produced releases with vocalist Hannah Lou Clark (also a member of Arthur) under the name FOE.[6][7] He released a single "Fuck Tactics" as Entrepreneurs on London label Fear & Records in 2011.[8] Around this time he was also involved in a punk band The Premarital Sect and produced hip-hop instrumentals under the name The Super-Ego using Ableton Live production software.[9] He also produced folk 7" "Good Girl / Amazing Discovery" for Surrey six-piece Wildeflower in 2012.[10][11] He produced FOE's album Bad Dream Hotline in 2012.[12]
His first release under the name 'Clarence Clarity' was 4GODSLUV[13] in 2012,[14] and he subsequently released his debut EP Save †hyself on the label in late 2013. At this point in his career, Crisp promoted an air of anonymity around the project, preferring not to refer to his previous work and giving false and absurd information in press releases, such as rumours that he was from Fiji or that his music was a new Jai Paul project.[15][16] When asked about this by The Guardian, he replied with "I've got a musical history, and I suppose I don't want to have to justify why certain things in the past haven't taken off. I've wiped the slate clean a couple of times. It all feels necessary to have got here."[17][18][19]
In December 2014, Clarity released his second EP, Who Am Eye, now on the Bella Union label. The album cover features his face with a distorted mouth and removed some more of the anonymity behind the project.[16][20] In March 2015, he released his first full-length album, No Now, and also performed a session at Maida Vale Studios for Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 1.[21] In 2016, Clarence released a single with Pizza Boy, "Splitting Hairs", and the SAME EP, which consists of the titular track "SAME" repeated 5 times.[22]
During 2017, Clarity helped produce Rina Sawayama's debut mini-album, RINA.[23] He also began releasing singles with minimal or no advertising, such as "Fold 'Em"[24] and "Naysayer Godslayer".[25] He continued this trend into 2018, as it was revealed that he was working on a project which was widely believed to be called Leave Earth. In September 2018, the album title was revealed to be labelled Think: Peace,[26] and was released independently on his Deluxe Pain label on 4 October 2018.[27] This album featured many of the previously released singles in remixed forms. Clarity also revealed that Leave Earth was actually a compilation playlist consisting of all his singles released from 2016 to 2018,[28] and continued to release singles for this playlist in pairs up until 31 December that year, finishing by releasing "Leave Earth"[29] and "Sob Story".[30]
On 20 March 2020, Clarity released an ambient album, Dead Screen Scrolls, as a pay-what-you-want on Bandcamp;[31] announcing an album was to be released only an hour previous.[32]
Clarence is presumed to be working on a project called Midieval Europe. He has mentioned it will be much more short-form than his previous albums.[33] He contributed a significant amount of the production for Rina Sawayama's debut album, Sawayama.[34]
