Aroly Tariq, in many was, is the culmination of promises made to electronic music fans from a generation ago. Where we had to scour used CD bins around the “acid jazz” and “trip-hop” labels to find a lovely female voice sweetly crooning over a slow and smooth beat… Don’t believe me? Then give “Perspective,” her newest track (available on Spotify) a listen. If you don’t hear what we all loved in Transistor, Portishead, Static Sound System, or Everything but the Girl – then you’re not paying attention.
The song: a lo-fi loop begins bubbling up – it’s so ethereal but quiet like you’re listening to someone’s radio a few blocks away. Then Ms. Tariq begins to sing. A breathy and upper frequency tone matches the one coming from the loop, and you get the impression that if you just turned down one band of the EQ, you’d have silence. Finally, a hiccupping and disjointed drum line comes in, and the world makes sense. It’s so elegant and mysterious, but catchy and full of groove at the same time.
A trek through Aroly Tariq’s Instagram was plesently engaging – where I’m used to seeing young female pop icons presenting themselves in sultry shots, Ms. Tariq is sharing some rather stunning visual arts. They look like surreal digital landscapes of vibrant dark colors. I don’t know if these images are of her own creation or art to go along with her music, either way, it is both captivating and beautiful.