Dec 1

Dec 1 Album Review: Arca - Mutant

Speaking of her time spent collaborating with Alejandro Ghersi (Arca) on her most recent album, Björk said "He knew my songs better than me... He was like a library of my music." That Arca has this kind of encyclopaedic musical capability will not surprise anyone who has heard his own music, wherein he slams together genres, palettes and instruments into something unique. He has claimed that his second album, Mutant, is "a lot more social" than his debut, but upon listening to it "social" isn't the word I'd use, I'd say "outspoken," as it is an album that demands attention. Arca has taken his exhaustive knowledge of the back catalogues of his heroes like Aphex Twin, Nine Inch Nails and Björk, cut them into fragments and redistributed them on his own spectrum to create something truly engulfing and unrestrained.

The first sounds on Mutant are not particularly welcoming; frenetic synths welcome you into Arca's world as a shuttle blasting through its fiery atmosphere at high velocity, whilst being bathed in the most golden light you've ever seen. Landing on an alien planet might seem like a trite metaphor, but with Arca it's hard not to see a whole dense reality within the sounds. He makes no attempt to make you feel comfortable. After the crash-landing introduction of 'Alive' comes the album's 7-minute title track; a mission statement of bone-shaking proportions. The song sounds like it's juddering up from below the ground, causing rifts as ideas burst from below while every unholy note shatters on impact. Arca then moves you away from the carnage and floats you between prisms of pink light, showing you the more intimate side of Mutant; but he never sets you down and lets you feel easy.

Whereas someone like Aphex Twin will keep a constant beat to keep you grounded, Arca rarely offers up any such stability, instead the whole experience of Mutant feels unhinged and unstable; you might be sucked from one climate into a completely new one at any moment. 'Sinner' does offer up a central thump, though it cuts and runs, disappearing as soon as it's started, only to interject again a few second later, ambushing your senses as you were distracted by the piano keys raining from the sky. Elsewhere on 'Sever' you'll meet a cute little amphibian-like character, characterised by Arca's triumphant dulcimer stabs, who leads you unsuspectingly into a dark corner where black boulders fall from an imperceptible height. In 'Umbilical' you find you've stumbled into the middle of a ritual of some indigenous tribe, who seem to be calling to life their ancestors who are hovering in the sky above you amidst minor explosions and bursts of strange light. 'Hymn' then brings them into startling focus, freezing you in place with ice-cold synth drawls, before they suddenly vanish and you find yourself alone in a wide expanse. Sometimes he'll place you into a star system that seems to be in a neighbouring one to Flying Lotus has been inhabiting, before hitting the warp drive and blurring everything in existence.

The amount of detail and the flow of Mutant is truly staggering; there are tracks that seem to take you down through secret passages to the next track, while you can still hear the sounds of the previous track fading away in the room above you. It is undoubtedly made to be heard in one sitting. It may not always be a comfortable listen over the course of its hour, it will unflinchingly show you its grotesque beauty, and each listener's reactions and visions produced in the face of such peculiarities will be unique. The tour of Arca's elaborate world does not give you a moment to rest, until its final track when he soothes you into a calming exit and you can hear synths whooshing calmingly as you feel the atmosphere repressurise to something approaching normality. Appropriately this final song is called 'Peonies': putting the image of a perfectly ordinary pretty flower in your mind to bring you back to Earth. However, it won't be long before you'll want to reimmerse yourself in Mutant's bright and riotous cosmos once more.