Clock Opera

Lore & Background

Clock Opera began as a solo project of Guy Connelly, who had previously been in The Fallout Trust and The Corrections. Connelly lived in a warehouse with bassist and guitarist Andy West, and drummer Che Albrighton joined after playing with West. Keyboardist Dan Armstrong, a friend of Connelly's, was invited after attending an early gig. The band's name was inspired by a symphony written for pocket watches, and Armstrong described it as apt 'because of the infinite ticking rhythms and because we like to sing grandiose and emotive melodies.'

The band's early releases included the debut single 'White Noise' on Pure Groove Records in 2009 and two EPs on French labels in 2010. Their song 'Belongings' was used in the American television series Chuck in 2011. The music video for 'Lesson No. 7,' directed by Aoife McArdle, was nominated for a UK Music Video Award. For their debut album, the band constructed a song called 'Clock Operation' from samples submitted by fans and artists such as Maxïmo Park and Everything Everything.

After Dan Armstrong left in 2014, the band crowdfunded their second album Venn, released in 2017. Andy West departed before the third album Carousel (2020). A planned tour in 2020 was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the band announced in 2022 that the rescheduled shows would be their last. A signature of their live performances was the use of metal tankards and trays as percussion during the song 'A Piece of String.'

Reader's Guide

Clock Opera's significance lies in their meticulous, sample-based approach to indie rock, blending found sounds with emotive melodies. Their debut album Ways to Forget received polarized critical reception: The Sunday Times called it 'one of the indisputable masterpieces of British pop in 2012' and praised the band's 'rare sonic ambition and scope,' while BBC Music felt that 'mechanical process obscures its human presence.' This tension between precision and emotion defined their work. The band's use of everyday sounds—such as a tattoo needle, a washing machine, and the buzzer from the game Operation—in their songwriting process was documented in a series of 'Making of' videos. Their legacy includes a dedicated fanbase and a body of work that evolved from sample-heavy synth-pop to more streamlined indie rock on later albums. Though they never achieved mainstream commercial success, their music reached international audiences through television placements and festival appearances, including South by Southwest and the BBC Introducing stage at Reading and Leeds. The band's final tour in 2022 marked the end of a thirteen-year career that consistently prioritized sonic experimentation.

Did You Know?

• Guy Connelly also does remixes for other artists under the name Clock Opera.
• The music video for 'The Lost Buoys' stars Alun Armstrong, father of keyboardist Dan Armstrong.
• Clock Opera's song 'The Lost Buoys' was used as background music for the BBC's coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
• The band once constructed a song called 'Clock Operation' from samples submitted by fans and artists including Maxïmo Park and Everything Everything.