Photo: Richard Round-Turner
Another day, another new band, another list of lazily thrown-together over-hyped comparisons that fall so far of the mark that 'the next Nirvana' seem an entire age away. Luckily for Arthur Beatrice, their sound is so all encompassing that all points of reference give absolutely nothing away.
"One will say 'Ellie Goulding', another will say 'The Smiths' or 'The xx' then you'll see 'Calvin Harris', apparently," they say, laughing off reviews of their early material. "It does start to feel a little bit like people are just stabbing the dark randomly - but I suppose it means that people are hearing very very different influences, according to their own tastes and context."
So far-spread are their influences, that it's become a backwards trail in discovering the bands they're alleged to have referenced.
"Some of them are definitely 'what the fuck?' but a lot of them we totally get," they laugh. "Bands like Prefab Sprout that we never listened to properly until we were told that we sounded like them, then you're like 'oh, I can kind of understand that'. When you listen to it, you hear a certain vibe that they've got that you recognise."
Arthur Beatrice are a band that very staunchly tread their own path. There's been a buzz about them as a 'new band' since 2011. The long wait comes from taking their time to bypass hype and self-produce their hotly-anticipated debut album. It's safe to say that the spirit of independence is very much alive in this articulate and charming young foursome. Do they feel separate from the rest of the scene?
"Yeah, but not in any kind of solitary way," they shrug. "We just don't really have friends that make music that's in the same bracket as ours. It's all very different, so it wouldn't be right to build a scene on such disparate styles."
How would one describe said 'bracket'?
"Good question!" they say. "We've always said that we make pop, but we've always tried to do something that makes it a little bit more interesting than just going for the normal production and the writing style of the time. Say, we'll write a 'traditional' pop song, then we'll rework it in a way through production and different instruments to make people look at it in a different way to what you normally would."
"Nowadays, the music that you listen to doesn't just belie your musical tastes - it has a lot to do with your taste in clothes, who you hang out with, your own personal culture and how you're defined"
Their debut single, 'Midland', came out in April 2012. What followed was a painfully long wait for the gorgeous 'Carter' to drop in July 2013. During what felt like an age the band have been locked away experimenting in the studio, shunning the idea of hiring a producer ("We made a lot of mistakes, good mistakes, but we learned from them and the sheer fact that we chose to do it ourselves to understand things a little better had a huge impact"). Now, they the oncoming 2014 with the promise finally dropping an album that showcases their true ecclectic and curious spirit - but don't worry, there will be no headbanging involved.
"In a way, our past EP has lined up our sound quite well for people - because of how varied it was. Sadly, maybe they won't be surprised because we've already presented our various sides through that. I doubt our album will shock people - there are no metal numbers on there."
But while they'e built up quite a reputation and following to create enough of a notion of 'what to expect' from the band, Arthur Beatrice are also known as somewhat of an enigma - which is quite a rare feat in the age of social media.
"It's quite a weird thing to hear said to us because we've always been quite open about the fact that if anyone wants to know anything they can just email or message us on Facebook," they say. "You know, we put our pictures on Instagram and it's not like we're hiding away on purpose or that it's any kind of marketing manoeuvre. People just seem to think that we're secretive because it was written about in the past when we didn't have much material.
"We're not hidden as people, it's just that we try to make the stuff that we do share relevant and important. The difficulty with the whole modern age of blogging and all that is that people offload information whether it's important or not and we're not keen to bother with anything that's extraneous to music or what we're doing."
However their music does take in inspiration from all mediums. A quick visit to their Open Assembly Tumblr page will show a tapestry of all that they're about. The name comes their renowned club nights, curated by the band themselves to create a unique live experience - because there's music to music than just the music.
"Nowadays, the music that you listen to doesn't just belie your musical tastes - it has a lot to do with your taste in clothes, who you hang out with, your own personal culture and how you're defined," they say openly. "It's just nice to work with our management and everything to make sure that the spiel and the look of everything is right, as well as creating a deent night of live music. Because we're so involved in the band side of things, it's nice to be able to put on electronic music as well. We're really into that."
Their love of electronica is evident, as is the layered, subtle beats and chilling vocals. It's guitar music, but not as we know it. They've got the arsenal of sounds to face 2014 and whatever it brings - especially after surviving the coming and passing of what was foretold as 'the year of guitar music' in 2013.
"I think people tried to force something to happen," they admit. "I don't know if it did or not. I know there are kids all over the country who will be loving what's going on in music at the moment, but I don't know what kind of impact that has on us. At the moment, the charts are looking so much better than they were two or three years ago. Regardless of whather or not you're into bands like Haim or The xx, it's looking much better for bands within our genre."
So are Arthur Beatrice confident that the scene is healthy and comfortable for their arrival when the album does eventually drop?
Well, yes, kinda.
"We can't say whether people are going to latch onto it straight away or if it's going to be more of a slow-burner. Either way, we love the album and hopefully that will translate."
Arthur Beatrice are on tour in December:
9th December - The Louisiana, Bristol
10th December - The Castle Hotel, Manchester
11th December - Cargo, London Tickets
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