3 out of 5

Label: A Colorful Storm

Produced by: Marco And Fabrizio D’Arcangelo

A conceptual journey through D’Arcangelo’s production styles across the years, Arium’s five pieces are, as usual with the duo, masterworks of precision, but the structure of the album is also its limitation: there’s not a set emotion or mood that emerges, leaving a somewhat unfinished feeling to the set.

It starts perfectly, though: opener Godsonix was apparently from an old, late 90s hard-drive; it sounds modern – whether it was remade or this is the original dusted off and cleaned up, I can’t say, but it’s dark, cold, IDM-flecked beats and unpredictable, woozy synths make a strong impression. The followup title track is equally strong, dipping into the subtle sound collage vibe of Broken Toys’ Corner for another great example of D’Arcangelo’s unique cross-genre stylings – partially chill, partially glitchy – in the electro scene. There is a change in tone between these two, but they’re each individually so strong that it’s not disruptive – it functions like an A- and B-side of a single.

Middle track Spacing Out is where the stylistic changeups become more distracting, though. A downbeat, minimalist track, this is the kind of the thing that would work great mid-album, but falls flat on a shorter record. It’s pleasant, and worth digging in to for some of its nuances, but comes across as a sketch in comparison to the preceding songs. Duty has a similar problem, though its glitchiness and swooping melody definitely hit a sweet spot; it’s just, again, like a limited application of this style – a demo.

Familiarity is another changeup, this time to ambient, but it is a strong outro, picking up on Spacing Out’s minimalism to a degree, but allowing the track to grow satisfactorily across its four minutes. It’s a very pleasing conclusion, and helps to round out the listen well, though also would benefit as a chill down to an album, whereas here it feels a bit more minor.

Individually, there’s no denying the works here are what D’Arcangelo wanted them to be, and no beat feels out of place. The sum of its parts, though, is a little less impressive, save the standout openers.