Arca is today’s Gregorian monk of femme worship, and as such has announced April 7 as the next holy high holiday for his followers. That day is the release of his long-awaited self-titled LP, previously known as Reverie. Today the faithful received the week’s second surprise service after the earlier release of the sweetly ominous “Piel” — this morning Arca dropped a video for new track “Anoche,” a tactile, haunting reminiscence whose vocals slide theatrically and operatically over subtle percussion.
The clip, directed by longtime collaborator Jesse Kanda, is a good primer of the current tropes that adorn Alejandro Ghersi’s artistic faith, which has found recent iterations in work with the likes of Frank Ocean, Shayne Oliver of HBA and Total Freedom, with whom Arca recently performed in Mexico City.
In “Anoche,” as in the single art for “Piel,” visible signs of life’s slings and arrows adorn the artist’s slim frame, otherwise clad in a gag-worthy leather waist binder, compellingly multitudinous straps and lacings and vertiginous heels. Fallen and marginally alive lovers of various genders receive his blessings before we’re taken to church on his divine hip switches. It’s another confirmation that Arca is driven by forces deeper than industry trends, a trademark of those who wind up leading them.