Artur Shek - The Cycle
Artur Shek is an up and coming composer and vocalist who specializes in Medieval and Renaissance music. All of the vocals featured on Shek’s songs are his own and he brings other musicians into the fold as needed to round out his compositions, adding a unique layer of depth to his sound. Today we are excited to share our thoughts on Artur Shek’s new EP, The Cycle.
All of the songs on this EP contain a resemblance to each other as they are, quite literally, part of the same cycle. The EP opens with “Spectrum” and from the outset we are introduced to Shek’s splendid work with both emotions and atmosphere building. While listening to this song, I got the chills and in its latter half it really has this foreboding kind of feeling to it that seemingly combines fear and sorrow into one emotive, forceful, moment. “There” is up next and it continues the themes from “Spectrum” and builds upon them, adding both progression and depth to what we have heard already. At around the two-minute mark, we hear the bass come in which truly breathes some intensity into the piece that ended up as one of my favorite moments from the entire EP.
“Introspective” was actually the first track I heard from Shek and was a work he broke down in detail to me. This song is meant to depict “a character’s life path” which culminated during the climax where everything drops and bass is added, describing the “inevitability of fate/circumstances” and the battle between fate and one’s will. Ending on a hopeful note, I really feel like this piece is extremely powerful as it illustrates the struggle people go through in their real lives in such an expressive way. “Prospective” is the longest piece from the EP and really punctuates all of the emotions from this EP in a meaningful and memorable way - this piece truly is riveting.
Listening to Artur Shek’s music is truly a treat; when I was growing up and studying various music styles in my free time, I was always fascinated by both Medieval and Renaissance music, though I could never seem to find any contemporary pieces that I enjoyed - especially not as much as I have enjoyed these four songs from Artur Shek. The way the four pieces from this EP flow into one another feels seamless and it really helps to create one of the most unique listening experiences I have had. You can listen to The Cycle through YouTube Music, Apple Music and through Shek’s Spotify page. We have Top Tracks from Artur Shek embedded below, featuring three of the four songs from The Cycle!
