London five-piece Cherry i return with their most mysterious and cinematic release to date, "The Arsonist". Produced by Ali Chant, the song is a sprawling expansion of the band's universe where myth, trauma, and modern conflict coexist in the shadows of one another.
"The Arsonist" is a slow-creeping spiral downward, an art rock dirge that unwinds gradually, flowing across the floor like smoke. Beginning with detuned guitars and buried percussion, the track establishes a foggy, disorienting mood before evolving into something much more visceral. At bottom, Cherry i channel an age-old tension and yet very now, musing on war, displacement, and the bits of memory that stick in the mind long after the heat.
Nikol sings words that border on the allegorical, such as a celestial arsonist, a barking dog, and the static-soaked memory of a lost home. It's a poetic act of reframing trauma not as an ingress into despair but as an effort to metabolize the unspeakable into cryptic, mythic language. The delivery is terse but piercing, enough to pack that feeling long after the song ends.
Musically knowledgeable, drawing on a broad range of influences, yet unmistakable as Cherry i, you'll be able to make out the scorched surrealism of The Smile, the minimalist, angry chants of early Portishead, the raw grit of Fontaines D.C., and the haunted spaciousness of King Krule. Ali Chant's production amplifies the unease, crafting a practically tactile atmosphere akin to ash on the skin. Every element is precisely inserted, the splintering sharpness of the guitars to the drum's thud, allowing it to breathe on its heavy tone.
"The Arsonist" is a slow-burning album, one that requires patience, a withdrawal and immersion into the sounds of fire, fog, and fractured memory. For fans of rock and affecting songwriting, they've never made a more ambitious statement than they do with their new single, and show that a great song doesn't always let you look away.
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