Bleep

Assuming the role of a digitised Greek muse, Caroline Polachek constructs elaborate lovesongs in a paradise of “perfect disaster” for her solo debut as Ramona Lisa. Part concept album, part showcase of her production skills, Arcadia finds Polachek’s textured vocals recorded on the run through clunking harbour soundscapes and baroque MIDI arrangements built in celestial realms. Jagged synthpop songwriting slinks through the undergrowth, bustling and strutting through ‘Lady’s Got Gills’ with lofi chiptune beats thrown into an underwater plunge. Bubbling, burbling, babbling synths dance with Polachek’s colourful orchestrations, a testament to laptop pop before it had truly breached the mainstream.