Artists You Should Know: Araya Wields Eclectic Electronica On Newest Singles "CAMEO" and "FORGET"

Brooklyn-based, Thai-Chilean artist Araya has unveiled two new singles in anticipation of their new ARENA EP, sharing the tracks “CAMEO” and “FORGET.” It’s the second and third song that they’ve released for the new project following its lead single “POISON” and signals that this year is going to be just as filled with new music from the singer/songwriter as previous ones have been. Just last year they dropped their sophomore album Ethos which arrived on the heels of their debut in Atlas — both albums introducing Araya’s love of intertwining retro and futuristic soundscapes in an eclectic and invigorating mix of dance-minded music.

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Both new tracks reveal the extent of Araya’s ever-shifting sound: the first track “CAMEO” is a slow-burner pop piece that wrestles with heartbreak. But it’s not all melancholy as the song is meant to identify the things for which someone might sacrifice a part of themselves, like a chance at love. Against its pained but surging electronica and Araya’s oscillating vocals “CAMEO” revels in the triumph of such a risk as much as the devastating effects of falling short. The music video for the track, directed by Fenn Paider, combines a glitchy and emotional mess of images that both tug at the heartstrings as they do at this particularly nostalgic style that’s reminiscent of 90s music videos.

“I wrote this song at the time I’d realized I was living in a facade that was steadily fading away,” Araya explained. “I felt as though my perspective full of both naive-bias and hope was too difficult to keep alive. When I started to lose the sense of truth and reality in what I thought I had, it felt like I had less than I started with. I think my satire allowed me to minimize the place this person had in my life to just a cameo. And all of the love before him too. This song is a heartbroken clown’s ballad.”

The second track “FORGET” continues to layer the inherent etherealness of Araya’s gauzy vocals to another steady crescendo of cavernous electronica. One that’s entirely consumed with questions of love and its value after suffering a breakup — making it more than a suitable anthem for losing yourself in the darkness of a club or neon dancefloor. Subdued and dreamy, the track eventually builds to this chaotic release of anxious electro-beats and shuddering bass that grows ever more ecstatic as the song continues before it all dissipates and fades into sublime nothingness.