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Mutant
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Mutant Image
Metascore
81

Universal acclaim - based on 21 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.4

Universal acclaim- based on 104 Ratings

  • Summary: The second full-length release for the electronic producer who worked on Kanye West's Yeezus, FKA twigs' LP1, Björk's Vulnicura and Kelela's Hallucinogen EP.
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. No Ripcord
    Dec 18, 2015
    90
    The record’s lack of organization and resistance to stasis work against its accessibility. Those willing to mine such a dense work will be rewarded in a visceral sense, but may be left groping in the darkness for a specific, externally-fabricated meaning. Either way, the abstractness and wandering abandon of Mutant define not only the album, but Alejandro Ghersi’s approach to music.
  2. Tiny Mix Tapes
    Nov 20, 2015
    90
    Fast pacing and fragmentary delivery show how Mutant’s tracks operate as experiments in obsessive dysmorphia, taking flaws and magnifying them to scale drama, affect, and beauty out of digital refuse. Exhilarating moments are found next to tracks that only feature impact tail-ends, panned and swirled around a headspace to suspend spatiality further.
  3. Pitchfork
    Nov 18, 2015
    84
    Mutant is an album of contrasts, and Ghersi has an uncanny ability to let extremes interact with each other to create something new.
  4. NOW Magazine
    Nov 18, 2015
    80
    Whereas Xen had the odd, satisfyingly familiar beat pattern, Mutant is even more punk. It dives headlong into an emotional abyss and proceeds with a rhyme or reason that's up to listeners to determine.
  5. The Guardian
    Nov 19, 2015
    80
    Distressing, transcendental and beautiful, it’s a journey so remarkable it could excuse a hundred false starts.
  6. The New York Times
    Dec 9, 2015
    70
    The downside of the now-ness, the resistance against static definition, is lack of resolution. Mutant is hard to listen to, sometimes in a salutary way and sometimes not.
  7. DIY Magazine
    Nov 20, 2015
    60
    Aside from the brutal norm its twenty, overwhelming tracks follow, Mutant is also capable of digging up gold.

See all 21 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. davd123
    Feb 25, 2018
    10
    Not sure this or ''Arca'' is his best album to date. It is amazing how music can touch human feelings. I don't have say anything bad about this album.
  2. lustforlfe
    Jan 7, 2023
    10
    it's for the people who get it, if you don't like it, you just don't get it
  4. gagathenewclass
    Jan 19, 2016
    10
    Maybe it's hard listen to entire album the first time, but that stunning atmosphere that Mutant makes by itself makes it so addictive.
    Arca    Maybe it's hard listen to entire album the first time, but that stunning atmosphere that Mutant makes by itself makes it so addictive.
    Arca never disappoints!!    … Expand
  5. JEMR
    Nov 4, 2021
    8
    Si no es Mutant un himno de gloria en una utopia fituristica, entonces no se que será, hay tantas ideas magníficas aquí.
  6. beauforcertain
    Dec 3, 2015
    7
    Those looking for sounds similar to Arca's production on Kanye West's Yeezus or FKA Twigs' Lp1 will be surprised when listening to hisThose looking for sounds similar to Arca's production on Kanye West's Yeezus or FKA Twigs' Lp1 will be surprised when listening to his sophomore album. The word "conventional" is nowhere in this album's vocabulary. Take the song "Mutant", for example. The skittering beats and hard-hitting sub-bass at times make it sound like breathing- as if the song was a story of a creation coming to life. To mutate, in a biological sense, means to alter the genetic sequence of an organism. In regards to Arca's music, this is precisely the case as he twists and contorts contemporary music, effectively ruining its genetic code and consequently forming an entirely new being. I at once had a hard time understanding how one can name a song that has no lyrics. Listening the Mutant is hard at times because several songs feel structureless, like a thrown-together hodgepodge. But other songs, such as "Alive", "Mutant", "Vanity", "Sinner", and **** seem to convey thoughts that cannot be expressed in words. Thus, listening to the tracks and reading the titles is the best way to begin understanding the meaning and inspiration. Creating ideas and provoking thought without words is a feat accomplished by a short list of skilled electronic musicians, a list that Arca can join proudly and, with future releases, climb to the top of.… Expand
  7. All_ButTrU4
    Mar 3, 2021
    7
    this was another great output by the idiosyncratic Arca. It showcases their production skill and in lesser amounts her vocals. It's a verythis was another great output by the idiosyncratic Arca. It showcases their production skill and in lesser amounts her vocals. It's a very paranoid and dark record with aggravated beats and ominous song titles,artwork and sound. Favourites:fa.go.t,mutant.… Expand
  8. mtofer
    May 6, 2019
    4
    This is just a bunch of effects all together and thats all. This is really boring.

See all 10 User Reviews

Awards & Rankings

98
#98 Most Discussed Album of 2015
36
#36 Most Shared Album of 2015

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