Steven Wright Clarkson
Music for Steven Wright Clarkson, the brain child behind When Mountains Speak, has always been a part of his life. Mesmerized by his dads reel to reel tapes of such artists as the Beatles and Herb Albert, Steven found a magic in music that would span the following decades.
He began playing alto saxophone for 8 years in his grade school jazz and concert bands, Steven continually pushed musical boundaries which led to his first chair status in High School. Almost every weekend, Steven and his gang of friends cruised out to the Hollywood Sportitorium in Florida, catching almost every touring act — Rush’s “Moving Pictures” tour, AC/DC’s “Flick of the Switch”, and Def Leppard’s “Pyromania” were just three of the dozens of concerts Steven attended. He also began playing guitar in High School.
College really opened a lot of doors for Steven. He immersed himself in alternative rock such as R.E.M, XTC, 10,000 Maniacs, etc. He also saw his first of many Grateful Dead shows and felt a kinship to Jerry Garcia’s freedom of playing style. He also began listening to and absorbing 100s of jazz records, both old and new.
After 5 years in active duty following college, Steven picked up his first mandolin. He immediately feel in love. He would spend the next 10 years playing solely the acoustic mandolin — in restaurants, coffee shops, and weddings. He also began to patiently volunteer at Alzheimer Clinics, Hospice Centers, Retirement Homes, etc.
At the end of the 2010s, Steven read about how Robert Fripp tuned his guitar to “New Standard Tuning” — just happens to be just tuning your instrument in fifths like the mandolin family. With the added depth of possibilities the electric guitar brought to the table, When Mountains Speak was born.
Since When Mountains Speak’s first release in 2020, Steven has enrolled in Music College (Berklee Online), won 5 international film festivals for his long play music videos (really short films) and continues to learn new and exciting ways to produce his sound. And his sound is truly unique which led to his forming Zen Rock Records in 2024.
Steven’s faith is at the center of his efforts. Music is a way he can express feelings and ideas he would not be able to share otherwise (Steven suffers from PTSD). Music is a healing force and Steven finds his style of music takes the listener on a journey of sorts — enjoy the ride.
Latest Release: Namaste (2025) Reviewed by Dave Franklin
When Steven Clarkson informs me that this is ” by far my most ambitious album to date,” you have to remember that all things are relative. By that, I mean that, compared to most music makers’ love of conformity and comfort zones, almost every note and nuance, chord and construct he commits to tape is something that most people would consider ambitious, unusual, experimental, adventurous…out there! Steven’s version of “ambitious” is likely to take us to places even he hasn’t taken us before.
Two immediate factors make Namaste a more ambitious prospect in his already ambitious world. Firstly, the amount of music that makes up these two discs. More accustomed to releasing collections of, admittedly, often lengthy songs, whose tracks number in the single digits, here we have both the numerous and the extended. There is a lot of music going on here.
The second consideration is sonic. Here, he has added electric cello to his growing arsenal of instruments, often incorporating more ambient textures, with the sweeps and swoons of its bowed strings providing an excellent contrast to the more focused and precise sounds of the guitar.
From the squalling, tumbling opener, “Midnight Somewhere,” we are led through a soundscape that is still familiar yet with added sonic dimensions. “Free Expression” returns to those sonic borderlands, tabla-driven blend of East and West, the traditional and the avant garde, a sound that I always associated with When Mountains Speak, and “Mystic Ponderings” sees the cello pushed to the similar outer limit as Steven does with his guitar, with fragments and fractures of beguiling and broken piano flitting through the spaces.
The title track is a strange beast indeed, a pulsing, energized series of peaks and troughs, a purposefully peculiar, cinematic soundscape dominated by frantic, voice-like electronica and droning, sonorous backgrounds.
Namaste concludes with “Leaf Floating,” a sound of sonic shards, sharp and serrated, all folded and formed into a jagged landscape —the gnarled final destination of an otherworldly sonic journey.
Ambitious indeed, but, as I alluded to earlier, what Steven considers merely a more ambitious take on his already experimental music would be otherworldly and perhaps even unimaginable to most people’s creative minds. This might be challenging music, but challenging is the process of how things move forward; it’s how innovations and ideas change the world, it’s the force that takes us to the furthest stars and gives us a better understanding of ourselves. Challenging? Perhaps. Important? Absolutely.
Namaste's Album Tracks:
- Midnight Somewhere
09:12 - Hope Drips Across This Land
05:52 - Free Expression
07:04 - Light Parted the Clouds
04:28 - Inspired
09:20 - Mystic Ponderings
06:18 - Wonka
12:52 - Shades of Red
04:06 - Namaste
15:14 - Solar Flares
06:06 - Streaming Hope
06:38 - Surreal Counterpoint
08:38 - The Now
08:24 - Leaf Floating
05:00
Discography: When Mountains Speak Albums
Namaste - 2025
Paint It Surreal - 2025
Wind Inspiration - 2025
Sidewalk Chalk - 2025
Sphere of Relativity - 2024
A Pleasant Kiss - 2024
Particles - 2024
The Metrics of One - 2024
Speak the Truth - 2024
Center of Infinity - 2024
Mystify - 2024
Solitude - 2024
Sunshine in Her Soul - 2024
Furthermore - 2023
Skipping the Divide (with Shreyas Iyer) - 2023
Black Light Sessions - 2023
Wanderlust - 2023
Old Fades to New - 2023
Rhythm of the Traveler - 2023
Tomorrow is Behind Us - 2023
The Hunt - 2022
Gateway of Love - 2022
Visions of Tibet - 2022
Time Left Ajar - 2022
Time Left Ajar II - 2022
Synthesis of Style - 2022
Seasons of Awakening - 2022
From Beyond Comes Within - 2021
White Shadows - 2021
The Blue Song - 2021
Elevate - 2021
Outside the Lines - 2021
Orbiting the Muse - 2020
Out of the Forest - 2020
Discography: Steven Wright Clarkson Albums
Fatherhood - 2013
The Prism - 2013
Sometimes - 2013
The Unseen - 2013
Color It Simple - 2013
Forty Days - A Christian Meditation - 2007
https://open.spotify.com/artist/38DDghXBla3F9mSMPOuGgB
