Sounds like you might like Clojurescript + Reagent which is based on React but with much simpler tooling (Leiningen). You can also run Clojurescript on Node now

Sounds like you might like Clojurescript + Reagent which is based on React but with much simpler tooling (Leiningen). You can also run Clojurescript on Node now with Macchiato (https://macchiato-framework.github.io https://macchiato-framework.github.io). If you need something CPU-heavy you can hook it up to a backend API written in Clojure. Turtles all the way down :)