Arthur Beatrice sit somewhere between art and the mainstream, somewhere between groove and tranquillity, somewhere between male and female.
This London group has picked up a lot of attention on-line from many of the more indie-centric blogs and websites since they first appeared in 2011. At first glance they sounded perfect. There were references in articles written about them to Kate Bush, The Sundays, The XX and The Smiths - all bands that Breaking More Waves upholds in the highest esteem.
Then we pressed play and found ourselves disappointed – because we didn’t hear any of these references at all. Sometimes expectation leads to being let down and we found ourselves shrugging our shoulders. So we filed Arthur Beatrice away and nearly forgot about them, until recently when we heard their debut release Midland again.
Without any context, without those references it sounded sophisticatedly wonderful. This was warm enthralling sounding musicianship that slowly grew into an uplifting guitar based groove. Ella Girardot’s vocal may begin modestly and gently enough, like a distant cousin of Trish Keenan of Broadcast (R.I.P) or Tessa Murray of Still Corners but before the songs out it has changed direction and reached for the stars. “I’ll never move I’ll never move I’ll always be so still,” she sings and as she does you might feel your knees going a little bit weak.
Add to this the six minute long What We Hoped To Achieve (see the extremely accomplished live performance below) and maybe you’ll understand why Arthur Beatrice have been getting tongues wagging. And if you don’t, don’t discard them yet. As we’ve said before and as we’ve just proved to ourselves, the most important ingredient of music is time.
Without any context, without those references it sounded sophisticatedly wonderful. This was warm enthralling sounding musicianship that slowly grew into an uplifting guitar based groove. Ella Girardot’s vocal may begin modestly and gently enough, like a distant cousin of Trish Keenan of Broadcast (R.I.P) or Tessa Murray of Still Corners but before the songs out it has changed direction and reached for the stars. “I’ll never move I’ll never move I’ll always be so still,” she sings and as she does you might feel your knees going a little bit weak.
Add to this the six minute long What We Hoped To Achieve (see the extremely accomplished live performance below) and maybe you’ll understand why Arthur Beatrice have been getting tongues wagging. And if you don’t, don’t discard them yet. As we’ve said before and as we’ve just proved to ourselves, the most important ingredient of music is time.
Arthur Beatrice - Midland
Arthur Beatrice - Not Without Thinking
Arthur Beatrice - What We Hoped To Achieve (Live Video)
What We Hoped To Achieve (Recorded Live at Flesh + Bone) from Arthur Beatrice on Vimeo.
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