London-based three-piece Arliston explore themes of introversion and experiment with a punchier sound on their new single Loud.
Blending pensive baritone vocals with ethereal electronics and gentle guitar hooks, Loud soon finds its feet and grows into a symphonious, multi-layered insurgence of harmony.
I caught up with frontman Jack Ratcliffe to find out more about the band’s influences, writing process and what’s coming up next…
Hey Arliston! Can you introduce yourself to our readers?
Hey Annie! We are a three-piece band from London, and we’ve just released our first single of 2019 – Loud.
George is from the midlands via Italy, Jordi is from Barcelona and I’m from Brighton, so it’s a real mix of influences and directions but somehow it all works out.
I love your new single Loud. Tell me about how it was written and recorded…
Thank you! So, the story with Loud is, we were asked to prepare a cover for a Sofar Sounds session, and came up with our version of Better Now by Post Malone (naturally). It was very chilled and had a nice little acoustic guitar hook that George played in the chorus.
After we played the gig, we got back to the studio and started mucking around with distortion and amps and realised that actually the song could be much (much) bigger in scale. A few long nights later and Loud was born!
I’m hearing elements of The National and Bon Iver (two of my favourite bands). Who are your biggest musical influences?
Well, speaking for myself, you’ve hit the nail on the head. I love those two bands.
Other big influences are Matt Corby’s Telluric, Explosions in the Sky and The Meters.
George comes from a finger-pick style guitar and folk background, but picked up an electric guitar when he moved to London, and Jordi is actually from a metal background. But we all agree on people like Victor Taiwo, Ben Khan, James Blake and Nao. They are big influences on us as a band, collectively.
If you could play any venue in the world, where would it be and why?
Hmm, it’s got to be something like the Sydney Opera house… or actually, I’ve had some amazing experiences as an audience member at the Roundhouse, so perhaps there (also, potentially a smidge more achievable than an Australian Opera House).
What’s the best advice you ever received as musicians?
Hmm… I think just ‘keep moving forward’ is the best piece of advice we’ve received so far.
It’s easy to get stuck in a rut, or become disillusioned by the music industry, and if that happens you’re likely to stop developing and learning as an artist. So keep moving forward, everyone!
What’s coming up next for Arliston? Is there more music on the way?
Yes, absolutely!
We have a fun little stop motion video that we made for Loud due to come out in the next couple of weeks, and then are due to release another track after that. Stay tuned!
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