On a famously warm, still and cloudless Seattle summer afternoon in August of 2000 Kelli Corrado, within the walls of her Belltown studio apartment, began composing, penning and four-tracking songs for guitar and voice that would later prove to lay the aesthetic groundwork for what is today ARKADE. Her vision was to establish a working project that spotlighted the organ as a lead instrument and sonically swirled with circus-esque abandon, ghostly romance and a general lack of any typical pop orchestration. After approximately a year of performing with various members on organ and percussion, recording the full-length album "Tonightrophobia" and honing her vision, Kelli met Christopher Hydinger at the Wall of Sound Records hosted cd-release performance for the newly pressed LP. Not able to pull the asking price out of his pocket quickly enough, Christopher was artistically convinced that he had discovered a project that, in some fashion, he needed to be a part of. There were moments of lyrical sensitivity, undeniably appropriate musical choices and just the right amount of strangeness. Kelli and Christopher soon became good friends and rapidly discovered that working together was proving to be a frictionless, dynamic and creatively satisfying partnership. And although the classically wholesome instrumentation of two guitars plus vocals seemed at times to be missing absolutely nothing, they both knew that a percussionist and an organist was what the sound demanded. More members came and went, an EP titled “Best Wishes, Houdini” was recorded and released and ARKADE was once again Kelli and Christopher and a wonderful body of songs. Meanwhile, inside a Belltown nightclub, employee Niki Sugar was listening to “Tonightrophobia” on the jukebox and was equally impressed. In the following weeks he would charmingly corner Kelli and Christopher, astound them both with his musical instincts and rightfully become ARKADE’s new and current organist. Realizing the project’s imminent need for a percussionist and having already executed the percussion for the EP, Christopher decided to make an honest attempt to fill the role and quietly transition away from guitar. ARKADE, now a three-person cohesive unit, has found its collective pulse and, with Niki’s neo-gothic, classically tinged preferences and Christopher’s minimal, street-inspired tribal beats, Kelli’s vision has finally become a collaborative reality.

Incorporating manipulated samples, non-traditional arrangements, various stage props, artwork, guest musicians and an innate inability to perform the same set twice, ARKADE invents gorgeously tense and mechanically complex music that manages to remain fully accessible, hope-filled and darkly inspiring to the listener.