A musician originally hailing from Maldives who now resides in Melbourne, ARCTISKY blends funk, jazz and electronic tones into his rock & roll compositions.
His latest project is titled 'Loose', a single he first began working on in 2020 with friend and collaborator Nic Rippon during Melbourne's original lockdowns.A song that could be semi-autobiographical – ARCTISKY is non-committal on that front – 'Loose' explores themes related to escapism and rebellion with a protagonist attempting to cope with life's pressures through defiance of authority.
An atmospheric, psych-flecked opening warps into a slinky rhythm lightly shaded in funk as ARCTISKY's grizzled, husky vocals detail an encounter with corrupt officials.
Brazilian bongos and police radio chatter-instructions add a grainy yet realistic texture to the track before ARCTISKY rap-sings, his vocals slowly distorted before he returns with the crystal-clear repeating chorus: "We just got to hold on till the morning," which morphs into a scorching guitar riff freakout.
"'Loose' tells the story of a young rebel who struggles with conforming to the system and societal norms, and he finds himself in an encounter with some corrupt authorities in a foreign country. It may or may not be based on true events."
Ahead of the song's release tomorrow (12 July), today scenestr is stoked to premiere 'Loose'. Enjoy.
"This track shines a spotlight on some of the most corrupt parts of some political systems. It's just good to know that any system or institution made up of humans are bound to be fallible," ARCTISKY says.
"This song took a few years to fully flesh out – one of the reasons being that I had to come to terms with telling this story without the fear of guilt and shame. Working on it with such a close mate really helped.
"I met Nic at music school, and we initially started writing 'Loose' in 2020 during lockdown in Melbourne. We were in each other's visiting bubbles, so we figured we'd write a song during every visit to keep our chops up. 'Loose' was one of those songs.
"After that, I finished writing the rest of the lyrics, Nic recorded the guitars and I recorded the vocals, and then got another one of my talented friends, Yuri, to record some Brazilian percussions for the song. So it's taken about three and a half years to get it to completion."
While ARCTISKY doesn't have any live shows planned as of yet, he's definitely in the planning stages.
