Spot On: Arthur Beatrice

ARTHUR BEATRICE  is the Guardian’s ‘New Band of the Day – No. 1132 on Friday 21 October 2011’. Unlike most bands they prefer to take the backseat than to arouse public attention by provoking marketing strategies. After months of blog tips, industry whispers, demos floating around and first comparisons to WILD BEASTS , WARPAINT and THE XX the day finally arrived: ARTHUR BEATRICE release their eagerly- awaited debut album Working Out next week.

Naming a song after words in the lyrics means that there is no addition to the content of the song from the title. We hope that trying to figure out the connection between the two will mean that listeners get more interested in the songs as a whole.

It’s Sunday Afternoon. Clouds drift by the window at a hurried pace. In between- periods with the first rays of dawn. The first song Councillor starts. Cryptical melodies, subtle choral singing at the beginning and two voices with completely different but on both sides unique timbres offer the perfect background music for the power play of the mighty but soft clouds. Opposites that form a whole – ARTHUR BEATRICE seems to act on this maxim.

Thus the idea of uniting contrasts already appeared in the choice of the band name. At the time of naming the band, the members Orlando Leopard, Ella Girardot and the brothers Elliot and Hamish Barnes were intrigued by the idea that it felt like a romantic thing to have two names of different genders.

Still romance, especially those between people, seems to be the main subject of their writing. Per se not very unusual – but it soon becomes clear that you have to listen very carefully to sense the real meaning of their abstract, lovely pieces. None of the eleven mysterious titles of Working Out refers to the lyrics.

Elliptical titles, such as Midland or Vandals are supposed to sum up the feeling of a song. For instance, the third song of the debut-album, Midland, has lyrics that are concerned with stagnation with an title suggesting a half-way place, whilst also alluding to the fairly uninspiring region of England, where two band members come from.

 

The London-based quarte’ describes their sound as a composition various parts of their individual interests.

Orlando has roots in classical music, whilst Ella is influenced by powerful singers like Etta James, so with such varying interests, things naturally happen in a way that we’ve come to enjoy. We self produce everything and have a lot of interest in the visual and lyrical side of being in a band as well, so the whole thing is pretty much down to our own tastes.

The influence of female lead singer Ella Girardot appears especially in the second song Late. It will give you shivers from the beginning to the end. The core of Working Out is the seventh track which is called Grand Union. The targeted voice of Orlando Leopard spread the first lines just accompanied by the piano. Slowly, the instrumental arrangement builds on the mystical lyrics until every piece is put together and forms a perfect whole which sticks to your memory:

 

–

But it’s so devastating when you feel

You’re all above

And you’re not in love

Dead lungs, you’re becoming someone else’s tongues,

Coughing up blood, skin coming off

–

 

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ARTHUR BEATRICE