ARC OF SUN

Arc of Sun is an art rock band based in Melbourne, Australia, comprised of Giosuè Prochilo on vocals/synths, Christian Prochilo on bass guitar, and James Cartledge on drums. Their innovative sound draws influences from progressive rock, industrial, IDM, trip-hop and various world music styles.

Initially conceived by Giosuè as a gesamtkunstwerk of music, visual art (still & motion), immersive experiences and world-building, Arc of Sun (the art project), fell out of practical doctoral research. It was intended as a means to capture a cathartic, ritual-like container, to access heightened states of consciousness through a holistic, multi-sensory artwork. With a more concentrated focus on creating a full-length album release, Giosuè composed, produced, sang, and created the visual works for the first incarnation of Arc of Sun (the band), centered around the debut album ‘Unfold,’ which was engineered by James Millar (Robbie Williams, Lufthaus, Akira the Don, Tina Arena) and released on May 17, 2022. In support of the full-length release, bass player and multi-instrumentalist Christian Prochilo and drummer James Cartledge joined Giosuè to translate ‘Unfold’ into a live performance setting, growing the art project into a functional band.

The Album ‘Unfold’

Created by Giosuè over a three-year period, begun a year prior to the 2020 pandemic, ‘Unfold’ layers textural atmospheres with driving, complex rhythms as a backdrop for tales from liminal spaces. Hovering between claustrophobic darkness and a sense of remedial light, ‘Unfold’ is a kind of ceremonial dance choreographed around the convergence point of these polarities, both in terms of tonality and emotion. This journey marks a significant point of transformation for the artist, after spending many years pursuing other creative paths before dedicating a focused effort into crafting an identity as a musician and songwriter. The synchronistic timing of this personal milestone, alongside a moment of global upheaval through the subsequent pandemic, magnified ‘uncertainty’ or ‘liminality’ as a major personal theme, and further connected more broadly to the liminal nature of a world put on hold and thrust into chaos. The dualistic presentation of dark and light in ‘Unfold’ uses sharp juxtaposition of mood and sound, where listeners are guided through depths of ambiguity and complexity reflecting Arc of Sun’s ritualistic origin as a three-year creative healing exercise and what could be categorised as Jungian shadow (art)work.

Lyrically, ‘Unfold’ unpacks personal themes including the healing of trauma; specifically, as a conatiner for shadow personification, the search for true identity and deeper purpose, and unearthing a sense of place in the world. Listened to fully in the intended track order, the album’s songs move in narrative arcs, in and out of darkness and light, culminating in the album’s final song The All, and its end climactic arrival in a higher state of awareness and mystical experience (sung metaphorically as “the centre of the Sun”). The dramatic presentation of these topics reveal a therapeutic, artistic journey, mapping a detailed pathway from disconnected, desperate states toward ecstatic connection with Self and a spiritual reality. Alongside the musical and lyrical aspects of ‘Unfold,’ a metaphorical series of visual art and design works, in the form of release artworks, promotional items and official videos, combine for the goal of evocative world-building and holistic immersion into a story of personal healing and transmutation. ‘Perpendicular,’ ‘Bearer,’ ‘Mater Ignis,’ and ‘Inquisition’ were the official single releases from ‘Unfold’ and offer core themes of the album including purification, self-empowerment, transcendence and mystical exploration.

Audiovisual Performances

Arc of Sun’s live audiovisual shows have immersed audiences through their hypnotic, multi-sensory blend of sound, images, and experiential design. The band is currently working on their next official release, evolving to a collaborative writing approach which is seeing a progression of their sound and vision. Please follow on social media (Instagram and Facebook) to remain connected with the latest Arc of Sun information.

Giosuè’s design organization EX-ZERŌ oversaw the development of all creative and promotional artwork and brand identity communications, including all official video releases for Arc of Sun’s music. As primary creative director and designer, he has worked across art direction, graphic design, illustration, photography, video editing, and animation to realise the comprehensive body of creative works.

All artworks conceived and created by Giosuè Prochilo with assistance of additional personnel *noted below.

ARC OF SUN LINKS

ALBUM

SINGLES

Arc of Sun - 'Mater Ignis' Single Cover by Giosuè Prochilo — ↑ **Mater Ignis (Single Artwork)**

LYRICS

‘Mater Ignis’ (Mother Fire) by Arc of Sun

She’s in the haze
The vapour trail
She is a haven
And she moves
Breathes out her womb
An offering
Transcending life and death
Intentionally

Elementum æternam
Nigresco quod venenosus
Inter nos*

*Eternal element
Blacken the poisonous
Amongst us

Mater Ignis
Clear away the rest
Give birth to what it is
To Be
O

Homa (होम)
Goma (護摩)
Come
Hestia
Vesta
Veni

You can’t say
Or pretend to fathom
What lies
Beyond
Her scarlet veil
Oil ignites
Words to draw her
Home tonight

She’s ablaze
With licks and tails
She moves in turns
Of the moon

Factorem cinis
Admonere nos
De debitum
Ad uniendis*

*Ash maker
Remind us
Of the debt
To unify

Mater Ignis
Guide us through this test
Lay down what it is
To Be
O

Giosuè Prochilo - Arc of Sun / Mater Ignis Vooden Remixes Artwork — ↑ **Mater Ignis Vooden Remix (Single Artwork)**

Arc of Sun - 'Perpendicular' Cover by Giosuè Prochilo — ↑ **Inquisition (Single Artwork)**

LYRICS

‘Inquisition’ by Arc of Sun

Do you ask it to go away?
Do you ask it to remain?
Do you know?

Do your feathers fall to ground?
Or does the ground fill your gaze?
Do you know?

Does a wire trip the sound?
Or is the sound from your way?
Do you know?

An inquisition
Dressed as questions
Can you stand it?

Will you stand alone and brace the wall?
It weeps your name
Just for you

Do you ask it to go away?
Do you ask it to remain?
Do you know?

Do your golden rules line your crown?
Or is the crown for display?
Do you know?

Was the Mary face tightly wound?
And was it wound in your place?
Do you know?

An inquisition dressed as questions
Can you stand it?

Will you stand alone and brace your wall?
It weeps your name
Just for you

Don’t look away
It was with you but
You split the seams of the tapestry
Where you became
Untouchable
Inaudible
In the dream

A python through the pinnacles
Mouths the opening to a
Cavernous place
To consume or to
Be consumed
By its fate

Arc of Sun - 'Bearer' Single Cover by Giosuè Prochilo — ↑ **Bearer (Single Artwork)**

LYRICS

‘Bearer’ by Arc of Sun

If the dawn is as old
As momentous the day
The wind whistled in code
Behind the Sage’s oration…

“If a bringer of cyclones
Or a bearer of new loads

Just open your eyes
And breathe
Just open your mind
And heave”

If the sun rises silver
In the eye of a mælström
As it charges through the waves
Figure eights through the masses…

“If a bringer of Hades
Or a bearer of changes

Just open your eyes
And breathe
Just open your mind
And wean”

If the pivotal hour
Yields the truculent cost as
A sacrificial devour
And indiscriminate losses…

“If a bringer of the dire
Or a bearer of honour

Just open your eyes
And breathe
Just open your mind
And see
It must be all left behind
It’s just a coming of age
The air will be purified”

These were the words of the Sage

LYRICS

‘Perpendicular’ by Arc of Sun

Blood gives shape the night
The sky’s alight
Overhead
Yet you’re underwhelmed
Again
Too long amongst the dead
But Jovis is returning
A fateful thrust of will
To leave behind your tomb
This time
Or
No way out of
The walls from
Your own bones

Quivering
At the core
Isolation
More illusionary holes

How long
Will you gaze
In Echo’s pool?
Lost and bound
To your shards of mirror

Go down
Lower than the ground
It’s foretold
The Selfless will take hold
Trust you will know
Trust you will be
Trust you’ll be
Free

They are beside you
Primeval tongues
If you’d let them
Thaw your heart

Gliding above you
Purify all
Beacon of solace
In the sky

A perpendicular line
Runs live from
Your chest towards
That golden orb
Now draw it inward
Before you return