Arca released KiCk i in 2020 and it remains one of the more genuinely unusual pop records of the decade. Alejandra Ghersi, the Venezuelan-born, Barcelona-based producer who records as Arca, has always operated at the intersection of experimental electronic music and pop structure, and KiCk i found a balance between those two modes that none of the previous records had quite reached.

The album arrived following Arca’s self-titled 2017 record, which was received as an experimental masterpiece and which most people found difficult to listen to for extended periods. KiCk i introduced more pop production elements, including collaborations with Bjork, Rosalia, and Sophie, without moderating the underlying strangeness. The vocal performances were theatrical in ways that recalled glam and opera simultaneously. The production was dense and physical.

The KiCk series, of which KiCk i was the first installment, continued through several subsequent releases that varied in quality and accessibility. The original remains the most coherent statement of what the project is capable of, which is music that sounds like nothing else currently being made and that functions as pop music despite that fact.

Arca’s work is demanding in ways that not all experimental pop is. It asks you to follow it into territory that does not resolve cleanly and does not apologize for that. KiCk i is the version of that demand that comes with enough surface pleasure to make following worthwhile even for listeners who would not normally pursue this kind of music.