Arca

Arca's first album does not fall far from the Micro:Mega tree. Sylvain Chauveau's collaboration with Joan Cambon remains firmly anchored in the atmosphere and instrumentation of post-rock, while emphasizing the electronic side. Looped field recordings evoke the mood common to artists frequenting the Montréal-based Constellation label, while the light guitar-picking motifs, atmospheric synthesizers, and programmed beats bring the music closer to the stables of the England-based label Ochre (90 Degrees South, Land of Nod, Stylus). Released at the same time as Chauveau's second solo CD, Nocturne Impalpable, Arca will reassure Micro:Mega fans, so to speak, as the music here remains in the rock realm — cinematic rock, very urban but without the sadness found in Godspeed You Black Emperor! Actually, even though it remains interesting and cute, this album lacks an emotional dimension altogether, except for the opening track, "Baixa," which soars higher, reaching a psych/space rock trance similar to Ebeling Hughes. Elsewhere, stripped melodies are stated in a detached manner and left undeveloped, the voice samples (in French, Spanish, and English) dressing up the tunes. When cello and glockenspiel enter in "Quand Tombent les Toits" (When Roofs Fell), the similarities with GYBE! turn to dangerous quasi-plagiarism. ~ François Couture, Rovi