A punk and metalhead teen in Dayton, Ohio, Jason Clark–aka Merivor–first encountered the power of electronic music in the early ‘90s, when Ministry’s “Jesus Built My Hotrod” spilled out of a Cincinnati nightclub and onto the street. Intrigued by its inclusion of guitars and the throng of people he found dancing inside, he attended the city’s first warehouse party, Rave 1, shortly after. This sparked a lifelong journey of self-discovery and deep catharsis through dance. Co-founder of Paxahau, producer of Movement Electronic Music Festival since 2006, Clark regularly traversed the Midwest rave circuit in its heyday, cutting his teeth amid an abundance of legendary parties. Driving from Dayton to Columbus, Chicago, and Detroit, he cites seeing Jeff Mills in ‘93 and Richie Hawtin’s seminal rave Hardest the same year as especially formative; parties with energy capable of warping the space-time continuum, where people utterly lost control of their minds and bodies. Equally inspired by early Aphex Twin—namely Analogue Bubblebath Vol. 3—and the ambient rooms synonymous with the era, his own music seeks to be meditative yet energetic. Merivor designs sound as ritual, invoking the same portals of ecstatic release and spiritual connection the dancefloor revealed to him.