Arcana is the sophomore release from multidisciplinary artist CZARINA who created a massive, orchestral sound that transcends past and future spaces. Its progressive rock character, anthemic spirit, and tribal synergy are set against rhythms and textures with infinite depth.
CZARINA is Vero Faye Kitsuné who wrote Arcana from her newfound home in Galicia, Spain, a majestic land of witches, warlocks, and rocky ocean shores. When Vero set out to write Arcana, she wanted to create an otherworldly sound that is both organic and layered, a record she could envision playing live with a symphonic orchestra and choir. On her path, Vero took every possible instrumentation into consideration in her composition and arrangements. She also asked Von Hertzog at The Social Club to work with her as a co-producer, mixing, and mastering engineer to harness the huge orchestration and finesse the layers of sound without sacrificing the production. Vero said working on the album helped them both grow, as pushing our boundaries often does.
Arcana is a multidisciplinary piece of art. Vero collaborated with visual artist DeadlyKawaii to design the art and album packaging for a Limited Deluxe Compact Disc, which includes 18 arcane artworks inspired by tarot and celestial maps, each with their own meaning that collectively paint the universe in Arcana. There are twelve Arcana Cards included, nine for each of the songs with liner notes and lyrics.
Mysterious Lessons
Arcana means mysteries or secrets in Latin, and Vero felt this was the best way to describe her own personal journey. Arcana plays like chapters in a book, and this is no coincidence. Life is a bunch of chapters, and Vero feels each one contains an arcane lesson, meaning or purpose. Those lessons may be mysterious at first, but life will eventually unveil what it has been trying to teach us as we look back and connect the dots. Arcana itself marks a new chapter in Vero’s life, too, moving from New York to Spain, trading material things for spiritual consciousness, and seeking feelings of home and love.
The spirit of Arcana is noticeably distinct from Painted Holograms, CZARINA’s debut. Vero said, “Painted Holograms represents the period of piecing one’s life back together after a fall, Arcana represents completion, finally being whole again and all the wisdom that comes with.” Vero wishes she could have debuted the CZARINA project with Arcana, but she wasn’t ready. She said, “I needed to level up more, learn more hard lessons and also figure out what this journey really has been trying to teach me.”
Arc of Arcana
Arcana opens with “Celestial Satellites” which sets an otherworldly mood for the album. It’s lashing percussion and new age aurora elicits a sense of awakening, rebirth, and connection to something bigger. Interestingly, Arcana closes with “Til The Last Stars (Cosmos),” a sense of connection, something bigger, but grounded in our footings here on Earth, and that’s love. When the guitars enter on “Celestial Satellites,” they rise chaotically from the darkness, playing like wild horses no longer tamed, set free run in the open. The experience becomes suddenly mystical, tribal, and transcendental, created by a conglomerate of vocals, harmonies, and percussion.
Before Vero set out to write Arcana, she meditated on its arc. It starts bright, becoming contemplatively dark and mysterious, and reaches its peak before becoming reflective and peaceful. As the listener navigates the arc, there is much to digest – the storytelling, fusion of musical styles, and interplay of vocals and production. Vero said each song on Arcana tells a story of “karmic manifestation, realization, truth, or reckoning, and altogether they complete the arcane circle that I felt my own path has been trying to teach me.” She tells stories with an anthemic character on “Medusa” and “Atomic: Ad Initivm”, pop quality on “Wonderland,” and hard rock elements on “Cities in Dust.” Vero uses her voice as a multipurpose tool. It can be big, vulnerable, and mechanical at times, yet, like a true craftsman, she often sets the tool aside so the sophistication and elegance of her instrumentation may stand tall.
Music Films
CZARINA is a multidisciplinary project, which the award-winning music films accompanying the release of several singles from Arcana showcase. The first music film was for “Atomic: Ad Initivm,” which plays like a call to awaken the spirit from within, to bring life, to become conscious again. The anthemic, tribal call quality is salient, as we hear Vero begin to sing, Wake me from deep slumber, followed by the summoning chant, Ad Initivm Ad Initivm, all embedded in layers of relentless rhythms and set in a retrofuture space.
“Wonderland” is the first song Vero wrote after relocating to Galicia. It was inspired by the magical vibe of the region, which Vero said she noticed as soon as she set foot there. She previously told me, “Our house is by the water which brought a lot of much-needed calm and centering after living and hustling in New York for about 35 years. I wanted to honor that and all the changes it brought within me. I’ve never felt this type of strong connection to a place before, hence I was compelled to write about it.”
The “Wonderland” music film is as epic as the soundscape, which is massive like the natural landscapes that inspired it and can be seen in the music film. “Wonderland” wakes the spirit and powerfully ushers a new way forward. The song fuses pop elements in the lead melody and chorus, new age atmospheric synths and harmonies, with a gothic chamber orchestra that includes strings, brass horns, and windpipes.
“Medusa” is a dark electro, gothic twist on an ancient myth. CZARINA’s Medusa is one to fear and admire. Once a victim, Medusa’s rage seeps through driving beats, ferocious melodies, and burst into flames of massive percussion. The vocals duel with the soundscape, conveying her calculated, controlled, and mysterious mind, a manifestation of the full circle of karma. The tale is one of injustice, which Medusa knew too well and is reflected in the cynicism with which Vero sings “I’m the predator. I’m the predator. I’m the predator.”
Alignment in Consciousness
All aspects of the CZARINA project are intentional. Vero said she wanted to invoke alignment in consciousness on the cover art. Hamsa hands usually invoke protection, but inclusion of six Hamsa hands signify seeing with clarity and understanding the reasons and purpose for them. The exposed lungs and heart signify openness and bravery, even during moments of vulnerability. The wings represent divinity, which also reappear in the Arcana Card for “Excélsior,” a metaphor for ascension, and the song elicits exactly this sense in the lyricism, arrangements, and composition. The soundscape is like wandering through a magical black forest, a place of self-discovery. The vocals vacillate vigorously, slinging back and forth, moving upward in a mechanical fashion.
The songwriting on Arcana very intentionally uses polyrhythms which bring the alignment of consciousness to life through music. Polyrhythmic songwriting involves layering and interweaving of rhythms, each with their own timing, each with their own circle, to create a giant circle altogether. The result is a zen-like experience. Vero said, “It doesn’t matter how loud the instruments or huge the dynamics get. They’re all bound to a magnetic core at the center and give quite a centering effect. The mathematic aspect of music is wondrously arcane. And I’m all for it always.”
The exquisite use of rhythms shines on “Lost Lands,” which are so overpowering they force you to pause, absorb, and digest. Vero’s vocals are as relentless as the rhythms. The composition creates movement happening at an incredible pace in the background, set against vocals unfolding much slower in the foreground, forcing them to appear like a hologram out of immense layers of sound.
The storytelling quality is deeply interwoven into the arc of Arcana. Vero said she wrote Arcana as she would write a movie and the songs are placed as such, each noticeably telling their own story like chapters, all placed together to write a book of tales and lessons life teaches us, if we allow it. “The Fox’s Wedding,” for example, plays like a story of destiny, and the soundscape ebbs and flows, massaging your brainwaves into a new set of rhythms. As it evolves, it feels increasingly more ceremonial, weakening the knees of our foundations, and finally the collapse.
CZARINA is a visionary grower of the independent music community and tireless philosopher of life. Explore the official CZARINA website, follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and dig into ABSYNTH, a space she dedicates to unearthing new sounds so their beauty may shine in the world.