ARC - Umbra (2014)

2014 album produced from their headline performance at the E-Live festival in Oirschot on the 19th of October 2013 in the Netherlands!
ARC is Ian Boddy and Mark Shreeve, two veterans of the UK electronic music scene. Their music is deeply routed in the traditions of the German synthesizer music of the 1970’s and as such they employ a vast range of vintage analogue equipment not the least of which is Shreeve’s massive Moog IIIC Modular System!

‘Umbra’ is a recording from the duo’s 90-minute set at the 2013 E-Live festival performance in the Netherlands.
The set was recorded to multi-track to allow Shreeve to edit and mix the album to fit onto a single CD.
The audience reaction to the music has been included to provide a genuine taste of the concert experience.
The powerful sequencing on the six tracks was recorded in the studio beforehand and these were triggered by Boddy using Ableton Live during the concert. This allowed the duo to concentrate on interweaving complex layers of keyboards and textures throughout their performance.
The set constantly evolves in an organic fashion from the traditional sequencing grooves of the opening track: ‘Arcadia’ through to the powerhouse encore track: ‘Cherry Bomb’.
The second piece: ‘Proximo Obscuro’, hearkens back to the classic, simple grooves of early Berlin-style sequencing. ‘Umbra’ and ‘Panthera’ have a darker, more gothic feel and bookend the more delicate sequencing of: ‘Auto Stratus’.

This is only the 5th concert ARC have performed, and as such, ‘Umbra’ provides a wonderful opportunity to hear what these two experienced musicians sound like in a live setting.

Tracklist:

01. Arcadia
02. Proxima Obscura
03. Umbra
04. Autostratus
05. Panthera
06. Cherry Bomb