The seismic shifts of the last 23 months have inspired countless weird and wonderful collaborations, but few feel as bold or strikingly provocative as Alto Arc.
Bringing together Deafheaven vocalist George Clarke, Trayer Tryon of Florida art-rockers Hundred Waters, progressive producer Danny L Harle and revolutionary beauty guru Isamaya Ffrench, the project deals in almost-indefinable soundscapes that combine the eerie electronic atmosphere of latter-day Nine Inch Nails, haunting folk inflections and demonic doom influence. Playing George’s confrontational declarations against Isamaya’s more pixieish intonation, there’s a pervasive sense of high drama and abstract narrative drive across the five songs of their self-titled debut EP, which unfolds like the soundtrack to some dark fairytale.
As anyone who’s seen the Elizaveta Porodina-directed video for Bordello will know – with that cine-literate clip echoing the gothic grandeur of Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula and the surrealist horror of Jonathan Glazer’s Under The Skin – their ambitions extend to creating bold visual art, too. This isn’t just about making music. It’s about building worlds.
All of which is even more impressive considering the band have yet to fully come together in the flesh. Joining us over Zoom on the eve of the EP’s arrival, George is looking out his window into the cold light of a New York winter’s day as Isamaya navigates the streetlit bank of a canal in east London. The pair aren’t sure when exactly they’ll be together in the same room again, but that distance and dislocation only seems to add to the aura of this music that feels like it’s been lifted from another world.
“It’s just how we roll!” laughs Isamaya. “’Let’s just never be in the same room!’ It seems to be working, so we probably shouldn’t mess with it.”