Return To INSANITY
Ex-Twelfth Night bassist Clive Mitten on his new solo work.
After an extended break away from music, twelfth Night bassist and songwriter Clive Mitten has returned as the C:live Collective and released the age of Insanity. Mainly comprised of instrumental suite the fifth estate (a full vocal version is due out early next year), the album also features radical reinterpretations of fact and fiction classics we are sane and t his City.
Mitten explains:
“the fifth estate deals with the world as we know it today, with social media controlling people’s thinking, populist parties coming to the fore, the myth of nostalgia, and the manipulation of power. we foresaw in we are sane what I’m writing about now. originally we were going to use it as an overture, but that sounded pretentious, so I made it ‘Part one’! It’s looking into the future, which is what geoff did – and here it is now, but it’s even worse!
“this City was purely because of grenfell [the grenfell tower fire in london, June 2017]. I wasn’t particularly looking to do another twelfth Night track, but grenfell happened. In kensington & Chelsea, you’ve got the richest people in london living across the street from the poorest. [grenfell] showed you’re either wealthy or you’re ignored.”
while still recognisably ‘progressive’, the fifth estate is a cinematic piece with strong orchestral and dance music influences. Mitten stresses that relations with twelfth Night remain “cordial” – indeed, the album features Mark spencer, as well as ex-lahost and Pendragon drummer fudge smith – but states, “when I decided to do music again, I wanted to go in a new direction. I had to move my head on.”