Dave Baker’s Lonelyklown project takes its name from a line in The Carpenters’ song, “Rainy Days and Mondays.” Fitting, then, that the latest release is a version of “Like Karen Carpenter.”
As one-half of I Start Counting, Fortran 5 and Komputer, Baker has shared responsibility for some of the best songs to emerge from the Mute label. With Lonelyklown, he takes a solo journey through the 1970s, exploring soft rock with the benefit of hindsight and a set of modern synthesizers. It’s futuristic nostalgia, but don’t colour it beige: as this track shows, Lonelyklown’s take is as colourful as a Bob Ross landscape.