“I do what I wanna do when I wanna do it / B****, I got the bags to prove it”. Arca has every right to sound so self-assured on the opening two lines of KiCk i — the Venezuelan’s work with Frank Ocean, FKA twigs and others marked her out as one of the most influential producers of the 2010s.
Her latest work is an album obsessed with the limits of genre, an interrogation of what can be done within them, and how they can be obliterated. Mequetrefe is a riveting, glitched-out attack on reggaeton, while on the feverish Riquiqui, dubstep wobbles are dissected and reanimated as something else entirely. Others are more sly — Machote’s balladry beats with an icy heart, and Time deconstructs Scandipop with throbbing grace.
Also striking is Arca’s skill as a curator. Each feature seems perfectly chosen. Shygirl’s understatedly fierce verse is the ideal ointment for the snakebite synths on Watch, and Björk’s bewitching vocals elevate the haunting atmosphere on Afterwards. SOPHIE’s presence is palpable on the all-out experimentation of La Chiquí.
The album is a fearless, thrillingly indefinable triumph.
