by Jessica Nikolich
photo by Daniel Shea
Venezuelan-born electronic producer Arca (Alejandro Ghersi) is probably best known for co-writing FKA Twigs’ EP2 and contributing to Kanye’s Yeezus, but he’s also released three albums of his own including April’s Arca featuring Ghersi’s lead vocals sung in Spanish. His &&&&& mixtape spurred on a 2013 film screening at MoMA PS1 with London artist and frequent collaborator/friend Jesse Kanda (who’s also the Grammy-nominated creative juice behind much of FKA Twigs’ and Björk’s visual catalogs). Their video for “TRAUMA Scene 1” looks to be a trio of distorted baby dolls dropping it low, but it captures the pair’s surrealist mantra as it grapples with themes like drunk driving and the subconscious realm. Touted as a “self-taught artist musician vegan manga spirit,” Kanda dropped a debut EP called Heart earlier this year, describing it as “coated with a layer of sharp pain…but at the heart of it is always love, compassion, empathy.” Prepare for what’s destined to be a glitchy, hypnotic, all-sensory experience.
