"I was at a point in my life where I was feeling really stagnant. I'd just finished a music degree and didn't feel like I had learned a whole lot. And I was teaching music but that job was exhausting me, especially creatively.
"I decided that I needed something really big to devote myself to if I was going to learn how to be a proficient songwriter."
After starting with just a handful of song ideas, Clarke found the steep learning trajectory a difficult climb.
He often considered turning back, but a fear of letting himself and others down kept him honest, and as his work ethic improved he explored new musical territory.
"Writing a song a week was manageable but also a challenge that would push me, he said.
"I'd told all my friends and family I was going to do this and there was just the right amount of shame - and I mean that in the best sense possible - to keep me doing it.
"I ran out of ideas in week four so after that it was just week to week - sitting down on a Monday morning and starting from scratch and just writing from the present and the heart."
A love of both folk and film music steered Clarke's writing and he drew further inspiration from his surroundings – with New Zealand's diverse landscapes inspiring gentle yet soaring, atmospheric pop anthems.
"Cinema music and folk music have been two really strong and influential genres in my life so that's kind of what I'm trying to imitate now.
"A lot of my creativity has been shaped in New Zealand. I spend a lot of time outdoors at beaches and in the mountains and my wife and I live on a ranch style property up in Stillwater.
"Those two genres and nature just go hand in hand and they inspire each other."
Last September saw the release of the debut single 52 – the final song of his year's work – while the track Brothers (from week 36) is currently enjoying regular radio rotation.
Having conquered Project Sinai, adopting the name Mountain Boy is symbolic of his creative progression.
"Once I finished the project I realised my taste and my vision of where I wanted to go had changed really significantly.
"Those songs (off 'From the Dust'), represented where I wanted to go into the future.
"So I really felt like I needed a brand change for a lack of a better term. Just to solidify that, to make it clear, both for myself and people who are interested in coming along on the journey.
"We've got some plans to release more music in the future and are already working on that stuff."
Fans keen on joining Clarke's journey can catch Mountain Boy on tour later this month with The Paper Kites through Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland.
