Arky Waters - Bumper EP [Review]

One of the best things about the world of music is being able to see how the scene evolves over time and how avid listeners of specific genres evolve alongside the sounds they love. Producer Arky Waters’ love for tech-house, industrial electronica, jungle, breakbeat, and rave culture is extremely evident on his new EP “Bumper”.

There’s a deep power being held within every track on “Bumper”. With so many elements being brought together to create enormous momentum, there’s an intricate chaos that draws you in and allows you to fully embrace every sample, tone, and subtle atmospheric coming together to create each track on “Bumper”.

“Take My Time” is the introductory track on “Bumper” and allows gritty samples, slapping percussion and melodic vocals to slowly rise before we dive deep into a pool of hollow atmospherics, soft horns, and sharp strings. Early on, you learn Arky Waters knows how to create the perfect rise within a track, before delving into a cooler soundscape, before bringing up all back up again. It’s these smooth sound arcs that allow him to display his amazing production skills and create tracks, like “Take My Time”, that have both great movement and texture to them. “Take My Time” has a heavy industrial influence, but the sliding strings and twinkling tones that are introduced later in the track, bring it into a more ethereal world, allowing us to dip our toes into “Bumper” before we dive in headfirst.

The chopped vocals samples that open the second track on “Bumper”, “Gum” will make you think we’re in for another ethereal experience. However, when the hard beat starts pounding alongside muted high hats, you quickly realise you’re being immersed in a darker world where rave is king. “Gum” has the type of beat you can feel deep down in the pit of your stomach and with the addition of ghostly samples, buzzing synths and popping atmospherics, you become filled with energy and can’t help but move as each note pulsates throughout your body. This is the club track we don’t just want, but we need. When a track can infect you with sound this easily, you know this is something that’ll energise a crowd.

After exploring a deeper sound on “Gum”, “Hercules” brings things into a more vibrant place, with siren-like samples roaring alongside cracking percussion and humming atmospherics. The vocal cry on this track really adds an emotive element to “Hercules”, filling you with feelings of motivation and determination, which can be difficult for an electronic track to do without lyrics. The vocal samples really take the lead on “Hercules” creating a soulful path for the explosive melody to follow. As well as having emotional elements to it, there’s almost a sense of urgency to “Hercules” that the momentum within the production highlights. “Hercules” feels like you are chasing some sort of euphoric moment, with a massive smile strewn across your face, and knowing this soundscape is going to take you there.

Finally, the title track of “Bumper” brings us up into a lighter world with speedy, jangling percussion framing airy vocal samples and soft atmospherics. A hard-hitting beat does creep in to “Bumper”, but the beat doesn’t drag the track down into the same depths as “Gum”, instead it simply helps to carry the track into a crisp soundscape where the vocals are framed by sharp samples and digitised tones. The great part about “Bumper” is that there are so many elements within it that work incredibly well together to create a track full of juxtaposition. It’s fast-paced, yet controlled; vibrant, yet very industrial; and gritty, yet uplifting. Despite having so many contrasting elements, “Bumper” really is the best presentation of Arky Waters’ production skill, as it shows just how well he’s able to balance a variety of influences into one incredibly enjoyable track.

The electronic music landscape has grown so much over the last few years and on “Bumper”, Arky Waters is able to share his perspective of the ever-changing music scene through an EP showcasing four carefully curated and chaotic tracks. As the music world continues to change and embrace new sounds, Arky Waters’ talent for blending specific sounds together to create nuanced club tracks will certainly pave the way for a more exciting wave of electronica, where you’ll never really know what to expect, but really, that’s what’s going to excite you the most!