Background
Arkana is rather new on the EDM scene; the oldest track on his SoundCloud is only a year old, but he already has 2 EP's and numerous releases, of which "Nihilum EP" is the most recent EP. He describes his work as his "attempt at sonically recreating the fantasy world in [his] head."
Review
Arkana may be relatively unheard of, but his sound is one of the best when it comes to the new trend in electronic music where the sound design and production is used to create vivid stories and settings, which became mainstream after Porter Robinson released his "Worlds" album a little over a year ago. It's a new sound that doesn't really have a specific genre name, but genre or not Arkana has created a wonderful work of whatever it is. "The Oracle" starts off the EP and is an interesting mix between an intro and an actual track. It's only 2 and a half minutes long and it's very cinematic. The first half of the track is a driving drum beat with spacey blips and bloops, but the second half introduces a tribal-sounding drum rhythm with spacey string chords added. It would make a great soundtrack for a space trek across a foreign planet. The EP ends, though, with the title track and a beautiful piece of the new trend in electronic music in "Nihilum." "Nihilum" starts off with some basic synth chords and a hi-hat loop, but in a quick turn of dissonance and intense energy a driving kick drum brings a heavily sidechained saw crunch into the mix in epic fashion. The song returns to the opening with more dissonant chords, but quickly builds back up to the pure frustration with huge bass hits and whirring drums. String chords take the outro as the EP comes to a close.
"Nihilum EP" may be incredibly short, but Arkana has set a dangerously perfect precedent with the world he's not only envisioned but masterfully transferred from his mind to our ears. Don't be surprised to hear more of Arkana here around Detour EDM; he's going places. 8/10
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