The last we heard from producer/ label head clktrx, he was professing To The Muse, a full length concept album that doubled as a fearless debut. His brand new single is certainly a departure, but only in subject matter. Missing from the producer's debut was angst, longing. A few songs of unrequited loved sprinkled amidst the R&B and Soul tracks surely could have spiced up the experience, but would have undoubtedly thrown the concept album off its firmly grounded feet. "Encore," written & produced by the artist, stirs up emotions this writer doesn't presume to fully comprehend the source of. The producer is at his best here where he creates a symphonic score that reflects the yearning of the lyricism, the struggle that the artist painfully expresses. Like most of clktrx's work, it is hard not to envision, or see "Encore" played out in your mind's eye. Here, clktrx, full of bravado, bellows on stage and then instantly succumbs to his vulnerable self-consciousness. The title of the song is used differently than the myriad arstist who have used it before. While he is arguably at his best here, there is no room for self-grandization as the artist honestly and fearfully questions, "what now?" This sort of self-reflection isn't new to pop music. But in the genre-less in-between where clktrx resides: between pop, R&B and adult contemporary, this is somehow different than Kendrick Lamar's self-deprecating, if not ironic, rise as Compton's conscious answer to Gangsta Rap. This isnt Drake pining over his existence while waking up next to two girls in his bed. Encore deals with life and death and the parallels between who we are at the top and the bottom. This is Sia- before she was hanging from her chandelier, still afraid to show her face, without a catalog of Platinum records to assure that this is not in fact the encore, but a jumping off point, a catalyst. clktrx composes Encore without the safety net of success. Set to be a busy year for the owner of his namesake label, clktrx music group, 2017 will bring the release of several full-length projects, including a mulit-volume set of instrumentals as well the debuts of several new artists. This month the label will release its first, Gus Rouse. "Encore," is a fitting sample, a testament of what's to come.