Arca: Xen

Xen
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Artist: Arca
Genre: Electronic
Label: Mute

It’s easy to see why so many acts are drawn to Alejandro Ghersi’s beguiling sonic ingenuity.

Kanye West, FKA Twigs and Björk have all come to the Venezuelan producer in search of his surreal, avant-garde, adventurous approach to beats and song structures.

On his debut album, Ghersi creates a maximalist canvas where lines are crossed, edges meander, and nothing seems to join up. Yet the magic of this method is that even the most fractured, dislodged and bruised of sounds – be it the hardchaw, dissonant clatter of Bullet Chained or the mutant strung- out paranoia of Family Violence – are tightly charted.

When Ghersi goes for what appears to be a straight run, as on the lovely paced Sisters or the righteously manic Slit Thru, he still veers close to the ditch to deliver his emotional punches.

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The sound of an imaginative alchemist at work.

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