Background
Arca was born in 1990 in Caracas, Venezuela into a wealthy family. His father was an investment banker and his mother studied International Studies.
Arca was born in 1990 in Caracas, Venezuela into a wealthy family. His father was an investment banker and his mother studied International Studies.
He later attended the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University.
His family moved to Connecticut for a time, before returning to live in a gated community, where he was privately educated and had the luxury of piano lessons. He describes his childhood as “kind of in a bubble”, and had difficulty accepting the fact that he was gay. In 2012, he released three EPs on the United Nations Organization New York City label: his debut as Arca, Barón Libre, Stretch 1, and Stretch 2.
In 2013, he lent additional production on four songs from the Kanye West sixth studio album Yeezus, in which he also served as one of the three production consultants along with Hudson Mohawke and Young Chop and as a producer on FKA Twigs" EP2.
He self-released the &&&&& mixtape for free, and was involved in an audio-visual performance of &&&&& alongside Jesse Kanda, who contributed the visuals, at MoMA PS1 in October 2013. His debut album, Xen, was released on November 4, 2014 via Mute Records.
In an interview with The Fader, the producer announced that he worked on Björk"s ninth studio album. Although it was first reported that he was the sole producer of the album, it was later confirmed by the two artists on Twitter that they co-produced the album together.
The album was announced and released as Vulnicura during January 2015, with Arca serving as co-producer on seven tracks and co-writer on two.
On October 15 Arca announced via his official Facebook page that his second studio album, named Mutant, would be released on November 20, 2015.
