Alejandro Ghersi (born 14 October 1989), better known by his stage name Arca, is a Venezuelan electronic record producer, songwriter, mixing engineer and DJ based in Dalston, London. He has released three studio albums to critical praise and has produced for artists such as Björk, Kanye West, FKA twigs, Kelela and Frank Ocean. Early life Arca was born in Caracas, Venezuela. His father was an investment banker and his mother studied International Studies. His family moved to Connecticut for a time, before returning to Venezuela, where he was privately educated and was introduced to piano lessons. He describes his childhood as "kind of in a bubble", and had difficulty accepting the fact that he was gay. He released music in his teen years by the name of Nuuro, and received moderate popularity in his home country, with praise from big national artists such as Los Amigos Invisibles. He later attended the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU. Career On 1 February 2012, Arca released his debut extended play (EP), Baron Libre, through UNO NYC. Later that year, he released the Stretch 1 and Stretch 2 EPs on 19 April and 6 August respectively. In 2013, Arca was credited for additional production, programming and songwriting for five of the songs on Kanye West's Yeezus, which was released on 18 June. He also served as one of the three production consultants. That same year on 23 July, he released his &&&&& mixtape through SoundCloud and Hippos in Tanks. The project included an audio-visual performance alongside Jesse Kanda, who contributed the visuals, at MoMA PS1 in October 2013. On 17 September, FKA Twigs' EP2 was released, on which Arca produced and co-wrote every song. His debut studio album, Xen, was released on 4 November 2014 via Mute Records. Arca made significant contributions to Björk's ninth studio album Vulnicura which was released on 20 January 2015. He was credited as the co-producer of seven of the tracks, and the co-writer of two. Arca collaborated with American singer Kelela on her Hallucinogen EP, which was released in October 2015. He's credited for producing, recording, mixing and co-writing two of the tracks, including the title track, which is an instrumental from Arca's &&&&& mixtape with Kelela adding improvised vocals. His second studio album, Mutant, was released on 20 November 2015. He released the Entrañas mixtape on 4 July 2016, following the single "Sin Rumbo". On 22 February 2017, Arca signed with XL Recordings and released "Piel", the first single from his eponymous third studio album, Arca, which was released on 7 April 2017 to widespread acclaim from music critics and was featured on numerous year-end lists. Later in 2017, Arca collaborated with Björk again on her ninth studio album Utopia, who co-produced the vast majority of the record. Björk explained that the album explored "the Arca-Björk overlap." A music video featuring Arca for "Arisen My Senses" was released on 18 December 2017. Arca also collaborated with Kelela on her debut studio album, Take Me Apart, released in October 2017. Kelela said he "anchored" the album and produced a bulk of it. He's credited for producing on four tracks, and co-writing two. Discography Studio albums Xen (2014) Mutant (2015) Arca (2017) Mixtapes &&&&& (2013) Sheep (2015) Entrañas (2016) Extended plays Baron Libre (2012) Stretch 1 (2012) Stretch 2 (2012)