The duo Dim Arcana comes from Italy, and, as you might've already guessed from the info-section on the left, they perform medieval and dark soundscapes. The band's debut "Yersinia" is themed around the black plague and those dark and dreadful, death-filled times overall.
When compared to the heavy and torment-filled theme, the music might seem surprisingly light at first. The band has chosen quite a minimal approach; a few soft but dark and nicely fleshy synth-waves creating a dark soundscape with a slight noisy and droning side to it are the main thing present, but occasionally there's some bare acoustic string instruments creating simplistic medieval melodies to deepen the theme's presence. Some chimes, really sparse percussion work and field recordings are used to create some eerie and mysterious dimensions to the structure-wise bare and pretty thin soundscape, and on occasion there's some spoken vocals that sound like they're telling the story behind it. Sadly I don't have much of an idea what the lyrics are about, but those fluent in italian can easily check them out from the EP's inlay.
The EP sounds very different from how I originally imagined it, that's for sure. It doesn't really lift off or grow at any point, it just keeps on creating the haunting and varying soundscape through the bare elements throughout its lenght. Even though the soundscape presents some really pleasing and appealing images and sceneries and manage to deliver the "dead" and morbid, lifeless feel, they often lack the final punch and flesh in their sound and progress that would really make the whole rise to a new level. It is as if the music would paint the setting, but the actual happenings within it remain difficult to get a hold of or to even notice.
It must be noted, though, that the band seems to have gone for their own personal approach and have left all the unnecessary elements out without hesitation. They know what they're going for, and seem to have a good amount of ambition. As of now the band just needs to develop and sharpen their style and approach further. For example the noisy elements are too bound to the ambient sounds, making them sound lifeless but also make them sound thin and lacking mass and power. The small amount of sound sources present at each time also gives a great responsibility to each of them, and if the sounds are not up to the task, it lowers the whole listening experience's value.
In short, the EP presents a enjoyable 30 minutes that easily go past, and demonstrates the band's own style and theme well. It's a promising release, but shows that the band is still young and needs to work more on the basic elements of their expression and different ways of binding them together before they can proceed further into the dark medieval realms. Also, a thumbs up must be given due to the self-assured, fittingly minimal and stylish and cover arts.