Aradia

The Seattle-based one woman electronic ensemble named Aradia is a roktronica Goddess with fire in her belly, talent streaming out of every sinew of her being and an insatiable determination to create music that is fresh and unmistakably...Aradia.

This being said, it is no surprise then that she commands every bit of instrumentation in her compositions and those compositions are artistically synthetic in sound. There are tinny industrial drums, heavily-treated samples and even her voice is given an electronic make-over on the odd occasion to make it sound eerily mechanised.

Possibilities:Dark draws different styles of music from all over the world. There are elements of rock and electronica first and foremost, then there is trip-hop, house, techno and other electronic dance musical influences thrown into the blender, given three whirls and spat back out to reveal a melodiously trippy cocktail of sound.

Aradia pounds the pads well and she also doesn’t overawe you lyrically – but that’s to be expected from a pop artist. Her tone is soft and wistful; shadowy like her entire onstage personality as an enigmatic sci-fi anti-heroine. Her persona is theatrical, so it is only fitting that she be supported by a harmonious opera of leads and synths that has a body with dramatic curves (often on places you’ve rarely seen before) and a beautiful yet constantly transmuting veneer.

Whilst her style has been compared to the likes of Bjork and Goldfrapp, I feel that these comparisons are somewhat inadequate as she’s not nearly as introverted as the Icelander, nor is she as downright extroverted as Goldfrapp. Essentially, Aradia is almost relegated to being the ‘default setting’ between the two and it shows on Possibilities:Dark...this is not a good thing at all!