User ratings in Music are temporarily disabled. More info
- Summary: One of the four releases on the same day for Arca's KICK anthology features a guest appearance from Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Buy Now
- Record Label: XL
- Genre(s): Pop/Rock
- More Details and Credits »
Score distribution:
-
Positive: 12 out of 13
-
Mixed: 1 out of 13
-
Negative: 0 out of 13
-
Dec 3, 2021‘iiiii’ floats up into the clouds – often pairing sparse plunks of piano with haunting choral vocals and snippets of ethereal sound design. Of all ‘Kick’s instalments, this one is the most meandering, focused on conjuring up an atmosphere, and living within it.
-
Jan 4, 2022Taken together, the albums are overwhelming in their stylistic diversity; one minute, she’s serving up clattering electro on the likes of iii’s ‘Skullqueen’ or ‘Ripples’, and the next, we’re hearing her break classic ideas of what ambience should mean to fit her own mould on the Oliver Coates-featuring ‘Esuna’.
-
Dec 3, 2021The last installment of the KICK cycle is much more tame, less experimental, less intricate than the three others. It’s almost hollow in comparison to its counterparts, paradoxically harder to make sense of than the more frantic entries released at the same time. Arca adds a new dimension to the mix with kiCK iiiii’s insistence on centering silence within the music.
-
Dec 3, 2021It's a bittersweet and ultimately satisfying end to a hugely ambitious project that always remains true to the emotions driving it -- but Arca fans would expect nothing less.
-
Dec 8, 2021These songs are whittled down, a rare moment where the overwhelming density of Arca's music falls away, raw and stripped of any protective coating. ... There's a newfound and striking intimacy—the last gasps of the KiCK series before the explosive climax "Crown," where kiCK iiiii's softness is ripped apart by cathartic blasts of noise. It's one final, triumphant punch that leaves everything on the table.
-
Dec 7, 2021Against the preceding volumes’ most attention-grabbing moments, they may risk getting lost in the shuffle, but perhaps that is part of their charm, too: The whole fifth volume feels like an Easter egg in a video game—a sparkly basket of jewels collected from the crevices of Arca’s more imposingly monumental works.
-
The WireDec 22, 2021Having all this material together is bittersweet – rather than four distinct sets, couldn’t these styles have been brought together in a more innovative way? Arca’s work is invariably surrounded by much chatter about disrupting musical forms, but four albums divided into four distinct moods feels like an unusually conservative vehicle for her ideas. [Jan 2022, p.59]
Score distribution:
-
Positive: 6 out of 7
-
Mixed: 1 out of 7
-
Negative: 0 out of 7
-
Aug 3, 2022This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
-
-
Dec 8, 2021Ducha a good ending for the Kick era, SO Beautiful and lovely, feels like the calm of Arca
-
-
Dec 7, 2021
-
-
Jul 3, 2022
-
-
Dec 5, 2021Cathartic, minimalist, concise, touching, beautiful, visceral when necessary and ethereal.
-
-
Dec 7, 2021
-
-
Jun 21, 2022That's not how roman numerals work, silly!
But in all seriousness this is probably the worst in the kick series. -