Transmitter is Max Clarke's fourth full length record as CutWorms. Produced by Jeff Tweedy at Wilco's Loft studio, Transmittermarks a deepening of Clarke's abilities and the convergence of twoartists whose work searches for grace amid dislocation. While Clarke's voice andwriting formed the framework, Tweedy's guitar and bass linessketched the rooms the songs inhabit. Tweedy's presence as aproducer revealed itself not in heavy-handed choices but in how hecolored spaces and continually offered new textures. Betweenthem, their like-minded sensibilities bridged a generational gap tocreate something more nuanced than either might have madealone.If previous. "Evil Twin" wrestles with bitterdisappointment, its talky guitars recalling the jangling heartache ofThe Replacements and The Go-Betweens, and "Windows on theWorld" leans toward the sun of the future with a melancholy thatdrifts somewhere between Elliott Smith and Miracle Legion. Closingtrack "Dream" brings us back to a familiar plane: Clarke alone at thepiano, tender and unresolved, pondering the fate of dreams and therisk of falling short or getting lost en route.Transmitter finds Clarke in full stride, writing with the conviction ofsomeone who's made peace with uncertainty. These songs reckonwith the cost of comfort and return to the idea that beauty,connection, and love are not luxuries but necessities for survival.Clarke is drawn to paradox_the friction between intimacy andescape, faith and doubt, shadow and light. His forgiveness, like thecut worm's, comes through transference: the act of releasingsomething fragile into the noise and trusting it might still be felt.