LICHEN

is the recording project of South London-based songwriter Michael Clark. Languid on the surface yet masterfully structured beneath, Lichen’s music balances delicate textures with emotional weight. There’s a heady marriage between this cultivated formal control and the intensity of Clark’s lyrical world — one that has evolved quietly but deliberately over the past decade.

Clark’s earliest recordings began appearing online in 2014: self-recorded, self-released songs that caught the ears of his peers and slowly built a following. The Line of Best Fit described his early work as “a veritable treasure trove of undiscovered sad bastard alternative.” His debut EP, Something To Be Won (2019), marked a formal arrival: four sparse, poetic songs full of lyrical candour and ghostly precision, praised by God Is In The TV as “a swirling and atmospherically tender set… poignant and heavy in content, but shimmering.”

IN MY DREAMS YOU WERE GOLDEN [ALBUM]

On In My Dreams You Were Golden, Michael Clark delivers ten songs that move with careful attention, tracing grief, memory, and renewal. Written a decade after the passing of his father, the acclaimed songwriter Gavin Clark, the album holds that loss at its core — not as a monument, but as a living presence.

Produced by Ted Barnes, the album draws on the chemistry of Clark’s live band: Ed Bernez on drums, Lily Wolter (Penelope Isles, My Precious Bunny) on keys and backing vocals, Holly Carpenter (CMAT) on violin, Eric Wollersberger on bass, and Allister Kellaway (Last Living Cannibal, Era) on guitar. Additional session musicians contribute subtle textures that enrich the record without ever crowding its intimacy. The result is music that feels alive in the small, telling details — the bend of a note, the echo of a percussion hit, the way voices meet and separate.

The album captures the depth of these performances with clarity and warmth. Across ten tracks, Clark navigates elemental imagery — bones, water, stone, fire — to explore survival, memory, and the traces left behind. There is a sense of movement and stillness, of presence and absence, threaded through every song.

Released on Joy of Life International, In My Dreams You Were Golden is a record that invites the listener in, asking for attention, patience, and reflection. It is an album that lingers, one that rewards repeated listening, and one that extends the emotional and musical legacy of Clark’s remarkable songwriting.

shop

contact
demos