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Arcana's fifth studio album is the first to depart dramatically from their well established, well loved style. Le Serpent Rouge follows an ethno-ambient path, largely free of vocals and dominated by Eastern-style percussion.
Arabian deserts: Magic, mysticism and the serpent’s dance
On their sixth full-length release, Sweden’s Arcana leaves behind ancient Western ruins and cathedrals for Arabian deserts filled with magic and mysticism. The sound of the Middle East flows through this amazing album; Armenian duduk, dulcimer, Egyptian finger cymbals, timpani and cabasa are just part of the musical arsenal on Le Serpent Rouge, taking Arcana to a higher dimension, exploring new melodies and realms. This is Arcana as you have never heard them before!
With their lush blend of spirituality and earthly emotions, Arcana has always been compared to Dead Can Dance. At Arcana’s heart is Peter Bjärgö who started over 10 years ago making music that captivated the ambient / neoclassical scene. The traditional sound with strings, bells and timpani, the angelic female tunes, Peter’s dark voice and the emotions behind the music have made Arcana one of the leading bands within this genre.
Now Peter boldly ventures into the hot Arabian desert, breathing life from the baking sun and the serpent’s dance. Le Serpent Rouge envelopes the listener in a powerful rhythmic sensuality; one feels the sands of the desert slowly begin to swirl, twilight falls across the dunes and in the distance perhaps a lonely nomad’s fire burns . . . just beyond its reach, one can make out the subtle movements of a great red serpent . . . edging ever closer . . .
Projekt is proud to bring Arcana’s music to a wide American audience via the release of Le Serpent Rouge. Arcana’s albums on Sweden's Cold Meat Industry have developed a loyal underground following for the band here in America.
Strange Fortune listener reviews are a free space to share your impressions of the music.
gardenman13 says on 19 Jul 2006
Surpassing by far in a somewhat similar vein even Dead Can Dance's forrays into trance-tribal, unsynthesized drumming textures (which they never fully realised except for 'Echolalia/Mother Tongue', 'Yulunga' and live versions of songs both released and unreleased), and equalling or bettering the Eastern-influenced flourishes, heavy beats, moods, rythyms and depths of layers reminiscent of Vas, C.O.T.A. and Trial of the Bows' darker directions, this creation is an absolute joy to hear.
Listening to Arcana's other output for years now, hearing Peter Bjargo just touching on these Middle-Eastern/Arabic tendencies, and knowing the themes, musical capabilities and the end product produced in those efforts, it was as if one knew he had it in him all along to explore this territory; it was just a matter of when was it going to come forth to a full fruition. And here it is.
The 'We Rise Above/Body of Sin' mini CD doesn't really fit into this CDs' vision, being so acoustic, simplistic, and natural, yet there is a transgression, even a usurping, taking place. There is, after many listens to 'Serpent Rouge', an unnaturalness about it, as if one couldn't quite tell the programmed from the organic, the lightness from the darkness- and that is a strange blend indeed here or anywhere, and it is achieved masterfully.
There is at once no point at all to or for this record or this music except for it just to be joyfully made [being born, you have no awareness of the impact of your birth] and on the other hand an innate, growing uneasiness with and knowledge of the fleetingness of life and of the inescapability of death [dying, you submit into Nirvana and all Creation again]. How one approaches living is all the difference between fear and hope, hate and love, sorrow and joy.
This is a musically-painted rendering of all and everything mysterious, intuitive and hopeful that those two diverse yet same bookends of our mortal spectrum encapsulates. If you buy only one CD this year, purchase this one, support the beauty of Arcana's artistry, and slip into the armour of the acceptance of destiny.
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