Arp
ZEBRA
Release Date: Jun 22, 2018
Genre(s): Electronic
Record label: Mexican Summer
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Album Review: ZEBRA by Arp
Great, Based on 3 Critics
Based on rating 7.6/10
Alexis Georgopoulos has never been terribly secretive about his influences. Over the past 11 years of his solo career as Arp, he has gleaned from, paid homage to, and straight-up aped any number of his forebears. He has channeled the burbling arpeggios of the Berlin school, the labyrinthine art rock of Brian Eno, the crystalline fingerpicking of Durutti Column, and even the smoldering guitar fuzz of Flying Saucer Attack.
Based on rating 7.5/10
Rhythm-heavy and genre defying, the new release from DJ/artist/producer Alexis Georgopoulos's Arp project is at once a captivating contradiction. The title, Zebra, conjures up images of opposites; a pattern of alternating spectrum-ends. Equal parts old and new, Zebra manages to angle down a line of mercurial song structures. Inspired by Joni Mitchell as much as Japanese '80s ambient and New Age, Arp's fifth album to date incorporates tape delays, analog synths, electronic and acoustic drums, a Rhodes Chroma, flutes and other classical instruments, harmonizers, and the creative strength of Georgopoulos himself.
Based on rating 7/10
Alexis Georgopoulos' various solo releases under the name Arp have hopscotched between genres ranging from minimalist synthesizer meditations to fuzz-soaked Krautrock to Eno-esque art pop. Released in 2018, Zebra is yet another stylistic shift, this time exploring a sort of lush, cosmic Fourth World chamber jazz informed by '80s Japanese pop production and light synth-boogie. The pieces are generally sophisticated, weaving strands of melodies throughout complex polyrhythms, yet there's enough space so that they always feel like they're levitating.
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