Arca releases new album kiCK iiiii, featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto

It’s the final instalment in the former Crack Magazine cover star’s Kick album series.

Arca has released another new album, and it features a collaboration with famed Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. 

The new record, entitled kiCK iiiii, dropped today (3 December) at the tail-end of Arca’s mammoth album release week. On Tuesday (30 November), she released KICK ii, which included a link-up with Australian singer Sia. KiCK iii and kick iiii arrived on two successive days, with Kick iiiii the final piece in the Kick album series puzzle. Arca released KiCk i in June 2020. 

Sanctuary – Arca’s collaboration with Sakamoto – is a haunting and melancholic song. Much like the rest of the new album, it’s a largely instrumental offering that sees Arca venturing into more ambient territory. It’s a space she’s explored in the past – be it on her eponymous debut album, released in 2017, or songs such as 2020’s Mallorca. 

Arca and Sakamoto have worked together previously, with the former remixing the title track of the latter’s 2018 album async. Speaking on the remix at the time, Sakamoto said: “Arca is another artist I’ve been following for years and wanted to ask to remix from the start. I had no idea what [she] would do. I was so surprised when I heard it”.

“To be honest, at first I was wondering if I had been sent the wrong track, I could not identify any of async in it,” he added. “And still its sonic connection to async eludes me. But I love the track and am happy to have it alongside the other remixes. It’s truly Arca’s music.”

Stream KiCK iiiii below and revisit the Arca cover story.