CLARK, STEVEN A. - Where Neon Goes To Die (Sealed) (LP)

With one foot in the 80s pop / R&B that Steven A. Clark grew up and the other in contemporary club the Boys Noize produced album flows in the vein of a Peter Gabriel meets Frank Ocean; a juxtaposition that feels new but familiar with Miami (Clark's residence) as the backdrop. It's the city where Clark's lifelong love of music became a full-time pursuit, and also happens to be an enormous playground filled with temptations for a budding young artist. "Where Neon Goes to Die explores a complex relationship full of highs and lows created by the temptations." From sultry pop to heart aching ballads, the album retells Clark's travels through the city's nocturnal fantasyland through hooky, R&B-infused synth pop-file. Over the course of months, Clark and Boys Noize built up eight songs written by Clark (plus two written by his uncle) by bouncing them back and forth over email until the two came together at Boys Noize's Berlin studio for the final sessions, where they had enough distance from the city at the center of the album to properly capture its essence.