Fresh from a performance at Burberry’s AW20 show this week (February 17), Arca has premiered new music on Diva Experimental FM, a bespoke collaboration with NTS Radio. The music in question? A 62-minute-long single titled “@@@@@”.
The track, she says in an accompanying statement, is: “a transmission broadcasted into this world from a speculative fictional universe in which the fundamentally analogue format of FM pirate radio remains one of few means to escape authoritarian surveillance powered by a hostage sentience gestated by a post-singularity AI.”
The host of the show (the eponymous Diva Experimental) is also part of the narrative; she “lives across multiple bodies in space in virtue of her persecution – in order to kill her, one would first have to find all of her bodies.”
“The bodies that host her carry fetishes for the paralinguistic, breaking the fourth wall and nurturing a mutant faith in love in the face of fear.”
If the title of “@@@@@” reminds you of Arca’s 2013 track “&&&&&”, that’s also no coincidence. The tracks are “kindred in that they are each a musical quanta, constituted by morphing sonic quantums,” the statement adds.
Besides the new release, Arca has also announced details of a North American tour, beginning in New York April 25, and running through to May 15. Pre-sale tickets will release February 20, before going on general sale February 21.
Listen to the NTS broadcast and see the tour dates below.