Arcana
Inner Pale Sun

Among the countless projects concerning ambient music, or atmospheric music in general, it is necessary to mention the Swedish Arcana, mostly devoted to a nebulous blend of darkwave, neoclassical, medieval, and industrial.

The album under review, "Inner Pale Sun" (2002), is one of those records whose title already hints at the spirit of its contents: listening to it is like crossing the stratosphere washed by the purity of a waxen dawn; it is like surrendering to the vision of an angelic, pale, and watercolor-painted valley, and it is like a fairytale-like nocturnal wandering through silent woods in search of a pale, enchanted glimmer of hope.

For the first emotional experience, surely more epic and vertiginous in nature, we can let our imagination float with the opening track "My Cold Sea", a pure display of rarefied and solemn industrial beats accompanied by delicious orchestrations, often paired with sublime and celebratory choral breaths to lend that touch of gothic preciousness that makes the soul vibrate.

"Song of the Dead Sun" can be another perfect example of such mythical splendor, although the atmosphere indulges in more decadent and less grandiose tones; indeed, the album's pace remains varied and imaginative in developing and condensing atmospheres, despite the monolithic electronic nature that at times may seem cold and detached (as for example in the ringing and martial "We Rise Above").

Regarding the second perspective, the contemplative one, the first thing to do is welcome the arcane candor of "Closure", an angelic lullaby bordering on the most relaxing and meditative new age, while "Innocent Child" results in a pleasant track to filter through our imagination, but perhaps also slightly static and lacking a particular drive.

On the other hand, if we talk about darkness and definitively more introspective atmospheres, without however trespassing into suffocating and palpable miasmas but simply caressing the nocturnal mist, then "Lovelorn" is the main protagonist: with its tense and restrained rhythm and its shimmering keyboard tones comparable to wandering firefly lights, it is the perfect soundtrack for aimless wandering through the harsh vegetation of a forest without light and without voices.

"Inner Pale Sun" is a record that is certainly not difficult to listen to, but it must be embraced with the right spirit and, as usual for all atmospheric music in general, with the right amount of attention. For those who want to catapult themselves into the mysteries of other eras and other places, or, more simply, for those who want to experience the simple and ecstatic pleasure of dreaming.