Clock DVA mark 45th anniversary of “Thirst” with expanded remaster on The Grey Area of Mute
Clock DVA (Photo by Adi Newton)
Clock DVA will release a 45th anniversary remastered reissue of their second album “Thirst” on 5 June 2026 via The Grey Area of Mute. The “Clock DVA Thirst reissue” arrives on double thirst-red vinyl, CD and digital formats as the second instalment in Mute’s ongoing campaign to reissue the group’s catalogue following the 2025 remaster of “White Souls in Black Suits“.
The new edition expands the original 1981 album with single mixes of “4 Hours” and “Sensorium” plus two newly recorded DVATION 2026 versions by the current line-up. “4 Hours” was originally the sole single from “Thirst” and has been reissued ahead of the album as a digital track, with the 2026 version and remaster now streaming on major platforms and on YouTube.
“Thirst”, first released in 1981 on Fetish Records, captured the band as they shifted from the more improvised, tape-driven approach of their debut into a sharper, song-based framework.
Adi Newton explains in the accompanying notes that the material on “Thirst” emerged from a deliberate move toward more structured pieces, following the personnel change from David Hammond to Paul Widger on guitar. The record balances jazz-inflected saxophone work from Charlie Collins with rigid rhythm section patterns and Newton’s characteristic vocals.
The 2026 remaster has been cut from the original tapes with input from surviving members and comes with the original sleeve notes by Genesis P-Orridge. The vinyl edition appears as a double thirst-red 2LP set, with a standard pressing and a signed art-card edition, while the CD comes in an eco card sleeve.
Clock DVA – “Thirst” 2026 tracklist
The expanded “Thirst” set includes the original album, live recordings, single mixes and new 2026 versions:
- “Uncertain”
- “Sensorium”
- “White Cell”
- “Piano Pain”
- “Blue Tone”
- “North Loop”
- “4 Hours”
- “Moments”
- “Impressions of African Winter”
- “The Opening (Live at The Lyceum)”
- “Remain Remain (Live at The Lyceum)”
- “4 Hours (Single Mix)”
- “Sensorium (Single Mix)”
- “4 Hours (DVATION 2026 Version)”
- “Sensorium (DVATION 2026 Version)”
The recordings feature Adi Newton (voice, clarinet, manipulated tapes, piano, modified guitar, EMS Synthi E), Steven J Turner (bass/treatments), Charlie Collins (saxophones, African flute, African thumb piano), Paul Widger (guitar) and Roger Quail (drums). The album was recorded at Jacobs Studio in Surrey and produced/engineered by Ken Thomas together with the band, with artwork by designer Neville Brody.
About Clock DVA
Clock DVA are an industrial/post-punk/EBM group from Sheffield, formed in 1978 by Adi Newton (Adolphus Newton) and Steven “Judd” Turner. The name combines Anthony Burgess’ Nadsat slang from A Clockwork Orange with the Slavic word for “two”.
In their early phase, the band worked with treated tape loops, EMS Synthi E electronics and improvised structures, releasing cassette-only material before issuing the debut album “White Souls in Black Suits” in 1980 on Industrial Records. This debut, recorded at Cabaret Voltaire’s Western Works studio, later returned in a remastered double grey-vinyl and CD edition on The Grey Area of Mute in December 2025, extended with four contemporaneous tracks.
“Thirst”, issued in 1981 on Fetish Records, followed as their first fully studio-based LP and reached the top of the UK indie charts. After this period, Newton steered the project toward a more electronic direction, signing to Polydor for “Advantage” (1983) before moving further into sample-based and cybernetic themes on late-80s and early-90s releases such as “Buried Dreams” (1989), “Transitional Voices” (1990), “Man-Amplified” (1991) and “Digital Soundtracks” (1992), culminating in “Sign” (1993).
Parallel to the main band, Newton launched The Anti Group Communications (T.A.G.C.) as a vehicle for psycho-acoustic and multimedia research. We previously covered the Cold Spring reissue of the 1994 album “Iso-Erotic Calibration” by this project.
Clock DVA entered a long hiatus after the mid-1990s, with Newton concentrating on T.A.G.C. and archival work, before reactivating the band in 2008 with a new line-up that has since performed at festivals and produced new material under the Anterior Research banner. Recent years have seen the catalogue systematically revisited: the “Horology” box sets compiled early recordings, “White Souls in Black Suits” returned in 2025 via The Grey Area of Mute, and the upcoming “Thirst” reissue continues this chronological re-presentation of the group’s early work.
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