- 12inch
- Pick Up
- Recommended
- New Release
Anne Clark
Our Darkness
Dark Entries
- Cat No: DE-340
- updated:2026-04-22
A classic from underground parties like Manchester’s Hacienda, Chicago, and Ron Hardy’s The Music Box, this track—featuring Sven Väth, Theo Parrish, and MOODYMANN in the mix—is a beloved masterpiece among many DJs, spanning genres from electro to trance. This is the official reissue from Dark Entries. A voice that conveys the resolve to overcome “darkness,” even while fearing it. The lyrics radiate passion; the poetry, synthesizers, and electronic sounds organically radiate energy. It is one of the premier masterpieces of the 1980s UK sound, spanning punk, new wave, and rave.
Track List
Doubting all the time. Fearing all the time. Our Darkness descends upon Dark Entries with a reissue of Anne Clark’s epochal proto-house masterpiece from 1984. As a young poet, Clark found herself drawn to London’s emerging punk scene. She became acquainted with Psychic TV affiliate David Harrow, with whom she would collaborate on 1983’s Changing Places and 1984’s Joined Up Writing. “Our Darkness,” off the latter album, was released as a single on Ink Records that same year, and became an underground club hit. It’s a singular piece of music: Clark’s lyrics, delivered with equal parts muscular confidence and unease, speak of urban alienation and heartbreak, while Harrow’s production pummels the listener with hydraulic beats and gloom-laced arpeggios. The song’s spirit would prove influential on both the early Chicago house and Detroit techno scenes, where mechanistic funk and existential despair could catalyse dancefloor mayhem. This reissue offers three versions of “Our Darkness”: the original 12” remix, the Razormaid mix, and a previously unreleased dub version uncovered by David Harrow. Also included is the extended mix of “Sleeper in Metropolis,” another dancefloor hit of Clark’s, as well as the elegiac “Poem for a Nuclear Romance.” The record includes an insert with liner notes and lyrics. “Our Darkness” channels timeless longing and contemporary dismay, a classic overdue for a little light shed upon it.
Inspired by London’s punk scene, the young poet Ann Clark met David Harrow—then the keyboardist for Psychic TV, who later joined Jah Wobble and On-U Sound, collaborated with Andrew Weatherall, and worked under the name James Hardway, Technova. Produced in 1983 and remixed at William Orbit’s Guerilla Studios before its 1984 release, this is a masterpiece of synth-punk poetry, new wave, and proto-house. A true masterpiece played at clubs that became the birthplace of underground parties, including Manchester’s “Hacienda,” Chicago, and Ron Hardy’s “The Music Box.” Includes the original 12-inch remix of “Our Darkness,” The Razormaid Mix, and an unreleased dub version by David Harrow. The B-side features “Sleeper in Metropolis” (composed by David Harrow, with an Extended Mix by engineer Martyn Webster), released the same year, and “Poem for a Nuclear Romance.” This reissue features liner notes, an insert sheet with lyrics, and the original picture sleeve. DARK ENTRIES comments, “It expresses timeless longing and modern despair—a masterpiece that deserves the spotlight now more than ever.” (Original Japanese text by Saito)