Post-Punk Subversives! Clock DVA on the cover of Electronic Sound Mag with the single “4 Hours”
ES7134 seven-inch features Clock DVA
‘4 HOURS’
The A-side of our latest seven-inch is a post-punk diamond. Blending alt-funk, avant-pop and dark electronics, ‘4 Hours’ was the only song to be released as a single from ‘Thirst’, Clock DVA’s acclaimed second album. Nothing else sounded anything remotely like it when it came out in 1981.
“A lot of what Clock DVA did back then came out of improvisations,” says Adi Newton, the founder and mainstay of the Sheffield experimentalists. “We used to rehearse a lot and we were always trying ideas that went beyond what other bands were doing, using our instruments in experimental ways and pushing the effects further and further.”
The source of many of the wildest noises on ‘4 Hours’ was sax man and free jazz freak Charlie Collins.
“You can’t imagine the power of the baritone saxophone when you stick a microphone down it,” says Charlie.
“There’s a huge B flat on the baritone at the start of the track and I used aMemory Man pedal to get different lengths of delay on it. I wanted to make it sound like a synthesiser.”
“I guess you would describe ‘4 Hours’ as our signature song,” notes Roger Quail, DVA’s drummer at the time.
“I think a lot of people were intrigued by the lyrics, especially the lines about black suits and black ties. I don’t want to second-guess what Adi wanted to put across, but he seemed to have been influenced by some of the black and white movies of the day, such as David Lynch’s ‘Eraserhead’ and Woody Allen’s ‘Manhattan’.”
“There is definitely a noir vibe to the song and a Lynchian thing going on with the black suits stuff,” admits Adi. “On the face of it, a suit is a symbol of convention, but you can’t always be sure of what’s really going on, can you? Sometimes it’s interesting to use something that seems conventional as a way to subvert people’s assumptions about the world around them.”
‘SENSORIUM (DVATION REWORK EDIT 2026)’
Another highlight of Clock DVA’s ’Thirst’ album, ‘Sensorium’ was the B-side of the original ‘4 Hours’ single, so we’re delighted to have it as the second track on our single. And even more delighted that this is a previously unreleased refresh by Adi Newton and his current DVA collaborator Maurizio Martinucci.
“It’s great to have these two songs together on a seven-inch again,” says Adi. “We decided we’d do extended updates of both of them to include on a reissue of ‘Thirst’ that’s coming out later this year. We’re putting them into the live show too. I think they fit in and work well. This version of ‘Sensorium’ isn’t an edit of the extended track, though. It’s something we’ve rebuilt and remixed into an exclusive new reworking for this release.”
The 2026 overhaul is more obviously electronic than the 1981 cut and even edges into acid territory in a couple of places. A heavily treated saxophone is again a key element, this time courtesy of Mick Ward from Sheffield jazz-funk outfit Floy Joy.
“Mick was in one of the line-ups of DVA that came after ‘Thirst’,” explains Adi. “It didn’t work out at that point for whatever reason, but he went on to form Floy Joy and also work with people like Was (Not Was). I’ve done lots of projects with him over the years and I was pleased to get him involved with these updated tracks. I’m really happy with how they’ve turned out.”
“Adi told the guys in the old band that he wanted to remix a couple of things and we said, ‘Sure, just let us have a listen before they go out’,” says Roger Quail. “I think this version of ’Sensorium’ is very good and Mick Ward does a brilliant impersonation of Charlie Collins on it. I’ve always thought the lyrics were some of Adi’s best. Listen out for the reference to ‘uptown apocalypse’, which was also the title of the track that he did with Martyn Ware on the first British Electric Foundation album.”
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