Artist Sebastian Clarin based in Stockholm, Sweden, drops a magnificent electronically delicious album that will lure you into his dark fantasy world on the 21st of October. Made of 9 tracks, this album was produced by Henrick B. Originally heavily inspired by the techniques of the singing and songwriting of artists such as Leonard Cohen, the golden voice, and Leonard Nick caves, Clarin makes synthpop. He creates the same kind of stories as the previously mentioned artists, but with a radical difference in the soundscape by creating a much more modern and electronically based atmosphere. Mashing singing and music from the east and the west, Clarin made a name for himself after releasing the initial three singles before the album release itself, making room for himself in the international blogosphere with critical acclaim.
The music with the vocals in this album transport you to a fantasy realm, it feels like you’re listening to a record a vampire would enjoy within the gloomy corners of its fancy and creepy castle. The moment you start listening to this album, you will be sucked into a universe standing on its own, suspended in a space of drab magic. Ariel Cut is exciting, delightful, and mysterious. You can’t really tell how you’re feeling with each track but you’re feeling everything in a dark but luminescent way. It seems that the album speaks of interrelated topics on the self, pain, evil, and tragedy through encounters with yourself, someone else, and the world. The overall sound of the album is a rich, spacey, and smokey drama. There are a lot of thrashy sound effects and it gives off an eerie vibe and draws from heavy industrial electronic music with a huge influence from the 80s and 90s electronic music. The musical arrangement is a lot to take in, with the main usage of a dark, hypnotic synth soundscape. Some of the tracks also use magical, sometimes spooky-sounding soundscapes with an undertone of the orchestral sound of female vocals, sometimes even alien sounds. Some of the noticeable instruments are some light drums and cymbals sound effects, but most of the sounds are layered sonic textures. The vocals of Clarin are influenced by Cohan, with deep, rich, and seductive vocal tones that also feel like there is a yearning in his voice. We also enjoy a wide range of transitions from vocals and lyrics to just our instrumental sounds in most of the tracks, so we get the best of both worlds!
The order of the songs doesn’t seem to have a particular pattern in their names but it is rather a collection of emotions translated into images ‘Teeth’ and encounters ‘Above us, the waning moon, that keep descending deeper into the meanings of the emotions conveyed. It’s a mesmerizing album with an experience that resembles traveling through a void of darkness splattered with stars.
