It’s a strange world in which experimental musician Alejandro Ghersi aka Arca brings us into. Deep diving into sonic vortex, mixing dark keyboards with triturated sound waves (on the 7 minute-long title track) and noises, the Venezuelan producer and DJ now based in London sends ears and brains into a wild universe. Moods change from one track to the other, but Arca keeps the thread. On Vanity, we’re embarking on a slower beat into melodies distorted by sound collages. Darkly spectacular. Arca’s music shines like black emerald: beautiful but complex. Interesting by its complexity. Five or six piano notes appear in the mega industrial Sinner bringing sudden melancholy (and humanity) to this cold mechanic music. Some videos are NSFW. Very rarely does Arca’s music on “Mutant” become too much of a monster movie (unlike his videos) soundtrack like many of other experimental / video game music creators. Arca stays in the music world, where composers like Amon Tobin also go. Halfway through this 20-track opus, Else brings a mental breather with its (electronic) xylophone melody. Although very intense, many of “Mutant”’s songs aren’t very lengthy. They seem like they bring us 20 000 miles under the sea… in barely two and a half minutes! The sound treatment although “Mutant” is incredible. A lot of details, very well-orchestrated, make this opus somehow grandiose. Even in its more complex moments, Arca never gets lost in a sound collage capharnaum. Born in a wealthy family, Alejandro was raised in a gated community where he had difficulty accepting his homosexuality. He later attended the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU. “Mutant” is his second album. “Xen” was published a year ago. ARCA Mutant (Mute, 2015) -Genre: experimental music Follow the artist via his Facebook page Listen to videos on the artist’s YouTube channel Réagissez à cet article / Comment this article commentaires / comments
