Atlanta

Description

In the lineage of the new French chanson scene, this man, keen on experimentation and cinema (he takes his surname from an Orson Welles film), sets out to conquer an urban, nocturnal, plural, and mixed music. Pop and electro cross paths and intertwine; US R&B and that intimate, typically French chanson volley back and forth. In the manner of a James Blake, Arkadin gives powerful breath to intimate lyrics. The delicacy and sharpness of his verses evoke Christophe or Alain Souchon; his compositions, already very assertive, have the muscle and nerve of hip hop or American R&B, citing artists like FKA Twigs or The Weeknd. Winner of the 2014 recent radio contest on France Inter and a pillar of the indie-folk quintet "Coming Soon," Arkadin decides to reshuffle the cards of his musical universe. In the words of Didier Varrod, music director of France Inter, instigator and godfather of the show: "his approach is striking, his project singular. From the start, his potential was beyond doubt. He succeeds in the bet of a modern French-language chanson that breaks the mold." The two EPs "Valhalla" (2014) and "Six Nuances" (2015) allow him to lay the first foundations of his project, notably through live performances (at La Boule Noire, at the Fnac Live Festival, and as the opening act for Coeur de Pirate on several dates since November 2015). To produce his tracks, he called on sound architects with keen ears, the French duo Twinsmatic. They were already responsible for remixes of Drake; Booba has since made them two outstanding collaborators (the track A.T.R. from their EP "Nowhere" and 2 tracks on his latest album 'Nero Nemesis'); these rising values of the French urban scene. Like Christine and The Queens, Arkadin becomes with "Atlanta" a night bird grappling with his time, often for the best. Between free fall and the promise of all possibilities, a first album in the form of an enlightened manifesto: Welcome to the parallel world of Arkadin.