Arcane-Gel – “Arborglyph” / “Brutum Fulmen?”

Arcane-Gel – “Arborglyph” / “Brutum Fulmen?” – Singles Review

Not bad, not bad…

So…look…I like Arcane-Gel…for the most part, I feel like I’ve got no problem standing behind these guys and what they create.  For at least a couple of reasons too.  One being, I think the world could certainly stand a whole lot more Alt-Rap…Progressive Hip-Hop…whatever it is you wanna call it…I’ll leave that all up to you.  Secondly, I feel like Arcane-Gel possesses a whole bunch of tangible skills, and knows how to approach their craft with a highly artful mindset…which I also appreciate.  That doesn’t mean I might not still want a bit more out of’em…but the blocks they’re building with are far superior to most for sure.

We’ve got two samples from their latest EP called For Now, Between Two Tigers in review here today.  I ended up checking out the last song on the record first, so we’ll start with that.  I really dig the music on “Arboglyph,” and that could very well have been the most standout element to this particular track for me on those initial spins.  It’s got a highly contemplative vibe to it…and I dig that.  It’s kind of like the audible equivalent of driving through the fog where you’re in that mood where you wanna drive fast, but recognize there are still plenty of reasons to be cautious.  So you end up with like, the hairs on your neck standing up straight & your senses have been heightened all-around…that’s what it’s like listening to the mystery in the melody you’ll find in the music of a track like “Arborglyph.”  Lyrically, I don’t know that it gets much better than Arcane-Gel if I’m being honest with ya…this duo could certainly compete with whomever you might feel is the best of the best out there in the scene, and it’s undeniably one of their strongest attributes overall.  It’s brilliantly poetic, and the imagery is outstanding.  I loved how so much of “Arborglyph” is dedicated to the memory of one of their granddads, and how tying that to the symbolism of how “the bricks he laid still stand strong, but that building remains to remind me that man’s gone.”  It actually took me aback for a second or two, because at first, I was like…well…that’s one way to look at it, but I don’t know that that’s the perspective I’d have personally, you know what I mean?  Arcane-Gel seems to resolve this by getting closer to how I felt like I’d look at something like this in the chorus – “might not look like much, but it felt like something – oh I was here.”  That’s the magic of perspective right there, and highlights how we all look at things from different angles.  Where I was originally looking at the verse of “Arboglyph” and how they say it “remains to remind me that man’s gone,” I was thinking, fuck – it should serve to remind you that he was HERE in the first place, you feel me?  We’re all so universally insignificant when it comes right down to it, that if we can somehow leave behind anything at all that definitively proves we were here in any way, shape, or form for the rest to remember us by…believe me when I tell ya, I think that’s the sign of a life well-lived.  I was glad to see that the chorus kind of rectified this perception, or changed the perspective on it, however slightly.  Heck…only they know for sure what they mean to begin with…all I’ve ever got are theories, so keep in that in mind y’all.  Performance-wise…I was a bit split on this one if I’m being entirely honest with ya.  I don’t really have any huge issues with anything I’ve heard on “Arborglyph,” so let me be clear on that to start – but I did wonder at times if the vocal tone in the verses was the best possible match.  The part itself is well-written, and ultimately, I feel like it’s recited in the right gear…this is me simply wondering if lower-tones would have been a better fit.  The proof I offer up in this instance, is hearing how much more the vocals in the chorus seem to fit the subtle tension & gentle intensity of the music as it carries on.  Like I said from the start, Arcane-Gel approaches their material with a very artistic mindset, and while I’d tell ya that I feel like tone/performance clearly achieves that objective, I’m not 100% convinced that it doesn’t come a little at the cost of the potential of their accessibility.  Hard to say.  I only ever have singles for so long before I’m writing about’em, so time always tells the full story…but yeah…I feel like there could have been a slightly different approach in the sound of the vocals that could have possibly gotten an ounce or two more out of the potential that “Arborglyph” has to offer.  Other than that, I feel like Arcane-Gel has essentially done all the right things & crafted a genuinely compelling cut.

If it’s any consolation, I felt just about the polar opposite about the concerns I had surrounding “Brutum Fulmen?.”  I think we can always have a debate about what tone might work with the sound of the music more than another, that’s fine…it’s fun to contemplate what can & can’t be done at the end of the day.  Where things are tougher to argue, is when something comes out wide of the mark, especially in the case of a crew that’s as capable as Arcane-Gel is…and that’s what we’re dealing with on “Brutum Fulmen?.”  Like, I don’t mind going back and forth in considering whether a tone is the right fit for a song – that’s always a discussion I’m willing to have, and I recognize that people can hear things differently than I do all the time in that regard – that’s fair.  Having said that…flat is flat…and that’s a completely different story & scenario altogether, but that’s also what they’re dealing with in the lower tones of what you’ll hear in “Brutum Fulmen?” in its main hooks.  We’re not talking anything that’s so horrific it’ll send you running for the hills…it’s not THAT far off – but at the same time, it’s not on either, and it’s the kind of thing you know the kind of talents that Arcane-Gel have shown us so far should have very well picked up on before putting out the final product.  So yeah…I’m a bit surprised here…because I felt like they knocked it outta the park with the verses on “Brutum Fulmen?” and it’s tough to have the main hooks not measure up afterwards.  Where they sing “it’s calling me home” – that part of the melody is essentially perfection…but the follow-up to that, that starts with “my anxiety’s a time machine” – it’s way too noticeable that there’s a completely different gear for the vocals that is required here.  That’s not me trying to be rude or dismissive – I’m not being either, for the record – this is more me doing my best to explain that sometimes tough conversations are necessary in the context of a duo.  They’re not easy to have folks…trust a guy like myself that was one half of one for a couple decades…but if you can’t have those hard conversations and be brutally objective when required, you risk coming out with uneven results you’ll have to live with…and you shouldn’t NEED to go that route when it’s so avoidable.  So much of “Brutum Fulmen?” is going right, that had they polished up that one part of the hooks, we’d be having a completely different conversation.  What genuinely concerns me though, is that talent like Arcane-Gel has, would have to know this…and that’s where I have to wonder if they’re capable of having those hard conversations in order to achieve the best results they can.  It’s not about being insulting, and there’s no need to take offense…you can be all the way positive…get back in the booth and see if you can take it to another level…you can totally be encouraging about it.  You can audibly hear the struggle to keep the low-tones in the vocals on-point in “Brutum Fulmen?” though…and I think it’s cost this song a bit of its overall potential from my perspective.  The rest I’ve got no complaints about at all – I love the lyrics, I love the verses, I LOVE the first main hook of “it’s calling me home” – that’s BRILLIANT.  You can see this duo makes music at a very rapid clip compared to so many others out there in the scene today…my advice is to slow things down a little, make sure you’re really both on the same page, and get the best outta what you’re creating in Arcane-Gel.  Y’ain’t far off at all…but getting close but not quite is something you’re gonna hear in the material for years afterwards if you’re not too careful my friends.

Find out more about Arcane-Gel from their official account at X:  https://x.com/ArcaneGel_4real

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