Arthur Russell

Arthur Russell may have passed away in 1992 but his presence feels stronger today than ever. Thanks to the new documentary Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell and a stellar stream of reissues, the leftfield composer seems more alive in the modern-day pop consciousness than he ever did during his life in New York. And so he should. Each posthumous collection has stood in stunning testament to Russell’s underappreciated genius, whether it’s in the realm of disco, avant-garde or in the case of his latest collection, Love Is Overtaking Me, singer-songwriter pop. Stretching from Russell’s very first compositions in the early ’70s to some of his last recordings before his death, the compilation presents him at his most accessible. But even so, Russell still sounds as if he’s living in a world of his own, taking a love for rootsy folk and the Modern Lovers and turning it into pop songs that sound like no artist before him or since. More importantly, Russell proves that, no matter the genre, he excelled at what he did, making him anything but forgettable.