Kirk Barley has spent time tracing the edges of sound without ever seeming especially interested in arriving at any definitive statement. Arc continues that tendency, but with a new confidence in duration and restraint. Rather than presenting a sequence of discrete statements, these nine tracks seem to breathe through one another, each leaving traces that subtly colour what follows. The record’s title proves apt: its movement is gradual, curved, almost architectural.
The opening stretch is particularly striking. ‘Billow’ emerges with a sense of suspended motion, its slow internal shifts proving more compelling than any obvious destination. ‘Ion’ introduces a denser physicality, its low frequencies lending weight without sacrificing the sense of…

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