Arca x Jesse Kanda @ St John’s Sessions

St John Sessions put on a hot concert within the beautiful setting of the St John at Hackney Church last Saturday, featuring the Venezuelan producer Arca, aka Alejandro Ghersi, and his visual collaborator, artist Jesse Kanda, as the headline act. Support tunes came from the ultra cool Inga Copeland, founding member of Hype Williams with Dean Blunt, who continues to make music under her own name since their split in 2013.

For those who don’t know Arca, he’s collaborated with the likes of FKA twigs and most recently Bjork, on her recent album, Vulnicura, for which he produced six of the songs and co-wrote two.

The duo gave an impressive multi-sensory performance – Jesse’s provocative visuals beautifully complemented Arca’s mercurial electronics, which had shades of industrial hip hop. Aside from his dexterous maximalist production, Arca also proved himself to be a killer performer – the way he worked the room made our heart skip a beat.

– JoL