Arpatle : quapi

Confrontational and eerie, Arpatle’s “Quapi” is an engrossing listen. Everything simply oozes through. Textures shift and change gradually. While the songs certainly threaten a descent into utter madness Arpatle pulls back at the last possible moment. All that remains is the incredible amount of tension built up throughout the album. However, this is not to say that things stay quiet. Volume serves as Arpatle’s best friend and when he takes away the restraint what results are pieces of overwhelming beauty, beauty in their darkness.  “Little Red Cap” opens the album off on a quiet note. From there Arpatle skirts around the outright onslaught. The volume is hinted at more consistently on the cryptic transmissions of “Zombie Boat” which balances between gorgeousness and nightmarishness. Grey industrial tones define “Tunnel” complete with a consistent pace and small squalls of feedback. Playful in nature “Labyrinth Hub” jumps and skips around with abandon. Teasing around with the idea of beats, the song at times flirts with a more straightforward dance-oriented approach. By far the highlight of the album is the colossal insane clanging of “Sheithu”. Cavernous and unknowable the piece is loud, unbelievably loud. Ending the album off on a high note is the elegant work of “Ionized”. As it expands it grows ever more encompassing, with the tones and ranges slowly building in strength. For its finale it simply evaporates away. Offering up mystical images of the surreal, Arpatle’s “Quapi” is a unique undeniable force to with reckoned with. Arpatle is Patrick Bossink an electronic music composer from Utrecht, The Netherlands.

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