Author Archives: Arcana

Unknown's avatar

About Arcana

My name is Ben Hogwood, editor of the Arcana music site (arcana.fm)

In concert – ABBA Voyage @ ABBA Arena, London

Posted on by
1

by Ben Hogwood photos courtesy of the ABBA Voyage website

An admission: I used to struggle with ABBA.

Although I loved the tunes to the likes of Money, Money, Money and Super Trouper – the first songs I can ever remember, from primary school discos, I started to see them as a bit too cheesy and found they were getting in the way of the house music I was obsessed with on university student nights.

What I have (so far) learned with age is that music tastes can change either subtly or unexpectedly, like a maturing whisky or a flavour that suddenly and unexpectedly hits the spot. And so it has been with ABBA, a feeling exemplified by a visit to the ABBA Voyage show on Saturday 8 November.

I wasn’t quite prepared for the emotional scale of what was about to come. Sure, the atmosphere in the arena beforehand was expectant, everyone with a ready smile and the wish to shake off the horrible parts of the modern world for a couple of hours. In reality, the ABBA show had done that for us in the first minute.

With lighting (from WHITEvoid) and sonics to justify the expensive price tag, this was a show sat squarely between the best cinematic experience you will ever have and the thrill of a live gig. The Hero Band were simply astonishing, not just for their virtuosity but in their clear love of the music, matching the vocals note for note but adding their own personalities at the same time.

But what vocals we had! Initially the idea that they could be connected with the avatars on stage appeared far-fetched, the distant figures surely incapable of such feats. Yet once the figures of Agnetha, Benny, Björn and Anni-frid had appeared on the big screen, it was time to suspend belief and enjoy the run of incredible music stretching before us.

To any radio listener or disco dancer, ABBA are the stuff of life, unwittingly providing us doubters with a soundtrack to our every move. Each song here had years of history on radio, apart from the well-chosen opening pair, The Visitors and Hole In Your Soul, and the ‘newer’ song Don’t Shut Me Down. The Visitors proved beyond doubt that ABBA have formidable strength in depth, that if you look beyond the frontline singles there is still incredible quality beneath. Don’t Shut Me Down gave strong shots of vulnerability, papered over by an exultant chorus.

Emotions ran high as our lives were effectively played out before us. Inevitably, while Super Trouper was missing, Money, Money, Money gave vivid reminders of that disco aged just six. What I wasn’t expecting was the concentrated outpouring of emotion during the likes of Fernando, with a real sense of occasion, or the real life soap opera cliffhanger that is Knowing Me, Knowing You. Casting aside Alan Partridge reminiscences – with a laugh – here was a chance to get to the nub of those lyrics describing a very public break up, remarkable bravery glimpsed throughout the song.

The set evolved with Disney-like surety, with the animations providing unexpected highs. Eagle was especially beautiful, with animations from Shynola backing a heady rush of endorphins as we soared above the earth, but even that was eclipsed by a triumphant Waterloo, shown exactly as performed at the Dome in Brighton, where it became the winning entry of Eurovision 1974. From there we segued into a truly joyous Thank You For The Music, a hymn to my favourite art form, then on our feet to celebrate Dancing Queen, before a majestic account of The Winner Takes It All.

Just occasionally there was a cynical thought of the amount of cash ABBA and their allies must be making from Voyage…but that was quickly overrun by the realisation that the experience is worth every penny, a thousand positive affirmations in a truly heartfelt two hours.

If you haven’t seen it yet, do try and get to East London, where the feelgood vibes are off the scale. As the Voyage website says, it is a concert like no other!

Published post no.2,716 – Wednesday 12 November 2025

On Armistice Day – Philip Sawyers: Remembrance for Strings

Posted on by
Reply

by Ben Hogwood

To mark Armistice Day, here is a relatively recent piece of memorial from the composer Philip Sawyers (above). When writing about this work in 2022 I noted,

“A recent work, Remembrance for Strings, made an instant impact. This deeply emotive, thought provoking piece has a hint of Elgar in its profoundly elegiac tone and scoring, but unmistakably bears Sawyers’ fingerprints as the theme evolves, gradually creeping upwards. The strings of the ESO were perfectly paced by Woods, giving the theme plenty of room and bringing the important viola and cello lines through the texture. Sawyers finds effective contrasts between notable pain points of discord and an almost complete stillness as the strings collect their thoughts, holding their collective breath in ideally weighted phrasing. This deeply affecting piece deserves to be heard much further afield, its impact comparable (if notably different) to that of Barber’s Adagio for Strings. A note for Emily Davis, the ESO guest leader, who gave a touching final solo.”

Here it is, in those capable hands:

Published post no.2,715 – Tuesday 11 November 2025

Switched On – Scanner – Forces, Reactions, Deflections (quiet details)

Posted on by
Reply

by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

The enterprising quiet details label welcomes Scanner – aka Robin Rimbaud – to deliver the latest in their increasingly impressive series of albums.

For this particular opus, Rimbaud gave himself a brief: “This album is forged entirely from the resonant clangs, echoes, and whispers of a stainless steel staircase at home, transforming everyday architecture into an unexpected orchestra.

By coaxing rhythm, tone, and atmosphere from the metallic body of a staircase, the work reimagines movement between floors as a passage through sound.

No synthesisers were used in the creation, only the natural sound of the staircase using a geophone seismic microphone and the gentle assistance of the occasional resonant filter and sample software.”

What’s the music like?

Darkly comforting. Scanner’s music can be experienced on two levels – one immersive and one with a broader perspective.

The immersive listener will appreciate how each track changes in harmonic content and texture over time, the incremental changes small and gradual but also meaningful.

Meanwhile the listener approaching this music from afar will get a firm appreciation of the space Scanner creates but will more than likely move into an immersive experience due to the intensity of the music. The textures, together with an almost complete lack of percussion, lead to the listener being suspended in thin air.

Start Moment bears out the move from passive to active listening, its thick low range drone punctuated with one of the resonant clangs Scanner talks about. Then the sound begins to fluctuate, the perspective changing to suggest the listener positioned inside an enormous tube.

Riser Beam Connection dresses its persistent central tone with slow moving tones of glassy purity, but Base Plate has more ominous designs and is creepy when powering down at the end. Grain Stress has atonal, avant-garde designs throughout its unpredictable movements, with plucked strings here and gathering clusters of notes there.

Finally the spacious End Moment, Wires is an immersive drone spread across nearly a quarter of an hour, the drone supporting sonorous, bell-like sounds and the scattering of electronic debris in the foreground.

Does it all work?

It does – who would have thought a staircase could provide these moments of drama?! Scanner brings from his source material a remarkably wide range of textural and emotional responses.

Is it recommended?

It is – an inventive five-movement suite that really pushes at the boundaries of its components, making a whole that traverses some weird corners, but which ultimately provides its listener with a reassuring ambience. A fine achievement.

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,714 – Monday 7 November 2025

On this day – the first performance of Brahms’ Piano Concerto no.2

Posted on by
Reply

by Ben Hogwood

On this day in 1881, Johannes Brahms took to the stage to play in the world premiere of his Piano Concerto no.2 in B flat major, Op.83, with Alexander Erkel conducting the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra.

The concerto is one of the biggest in the repertoire. Set in four movements and lasting well over 40 minutes, it is more symphonic in structure, with demands of stamina and technique for the soloist that complement the more tempestuous Piano Concerto no.1.

The Second is a more obviously graceful work, from the lilting horn theme at the start to its elegant slow movement, where a solo cello plays a particularly beautiful melody. There are moments of grandeur – especially in the first two movements – while the finale is a dance, light on its feet and brimming with good spirits.

You can listen to a performance below from Yefim Bronfman, with Sir Antonio Pappano conducting the Verbier Festival Orchestra:

Published post no.2,713 – Sunday 9 November 2025

New music – Max Cooper & Rob Clouth – 8 Billion Realities (Mesh)

Posted on by
Reply

adapted from the press release by Ben Hogwood

Acclaimed electronic musicians, producers and sound architects Max Cooper and Rob Clouth team up for a new collaborative EP; a dark, playful four-track dive into ambient, breakbeat and techno’s subconscious flow, featuring a standout vocal performance from South London rapper FLOHIO.

Recorded over a series of spontaneous London sessions, 8 Billion Realities channels years of creative exchange between two of the genre’s most quietly innovative artists and is a result of a decision between the long time friends to refrain from conceptual overthinking in favour of instinct and joy.

As long-time admirers of each other’s audio/visual work, Cooper and Clouth collaborated in London together after both emerging from intense, idea-heavy album cycles. What followed was a series of exploratory sessions, half-improvised, half-built around half-formed thoughts. The result is a club-ready EP that feels alive and human: imperfect and hypnotically rich.

“Rob Clouth has been one of my favourite electronic music producers since I first heard his work in 2011,” says Cooper. “His work is more full of ideas and structure than anyone else.” “We were both coming from extensive conceptual studio albums and both in the mood for simplifying things and having some fun with the music, so that’s what we did”.

For Clouth, no stranger to Max Cooper’s Mesh label having previously released an array of EPs plus his 2020 debut album Zero Point this record marks a new chapter, both creatively and personally. “Something pretty new for me is collaborating,” he says. “You kind of have to know when to stop, because if you develop an idea all the way to its endpoint, the other person has nowhere to jump in.”

The first A Moment Set Aside began as a break from another idea, a live, unplanned improvisation based around arps and ambience. “The track was written in about as long as it took to play it,” says Cooper. “It was pulled from a one-hour recording session, more or less as you hear it… the energy and excitement grew as the unplanned moment bore some magic.”

“The lesson being that sometimes it’s helpful to set aside a moment without forcing results, and let the subconscious have something to say.” What followed was darker, heavier. “Asymptote” is detuned techno. Subversive and euphoric in its descent. “We found a sort of brain mangling, half consonant, half wandering detuned techno pulse, which we started chatting about being a sort of pit of spiralling body parts we were falling into,” says Cooper. “It was a lot of fun to work on and let loose with bigger kicks than I usually ever get to unleash.”

Then came 8 Billion Realities, featuring a standout rap performance from FLOHIO; an emerging figure in the UK grime and rap scene. The track was inspired by conversations about algorithmic echo chambers and hyper-personalised online worlds. Frantic, direct, and South London to the core, FLOHIO brings this tension to life. Her sharp, intense flow cuts through distortion and rhythm, landing the track somewhere between chaos and control instantly making it one of the most striking moments in either artist’s catalogue. “A different reality for all 8 billion of us,” says Cooper. “We weren’t sure if it would work… but there was something about the energy of the percussive idea and the story which felt like it might fit.” “Then FLOHIO had a play with it and straight off the bat absolutely killed it, not just with the lyrics and energy, but the harmonising too, it was a beautiful process.”

The final piece on the EP Candeleda originated from Clouth’s solo experiments with a live rig made entirely of vocals and keys, using his self-developed “cheatbox” system. “He put forward a beautiful stumbling melodic sequence which we bounced back and forth adding harmonies and synth layers,” says Cooper. “It rounds off a collection covering some of the breadth of music that we both love.”

Speaking about the video release for ‘A Moment Set Aside’, Max Cooper states: “We chatted with Dimitri Thouzery about forests as a visual counterpart for taking a moment out to be immersed in rich form. When I’m feeling stressed the forest is my favourite place to go. Dimitri collected 3D scans of nearby forest floor locations and told the story beautifully with a nod towards something greater than just the forests themselves. Thanks for having a look and a listen.” 

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,712 – Saturday 8 November 2025