South London duo Arliston invites us on a musical journey that fuses folk tranquility with cinematic synths. Comprising vocalist and instrumentalist Jack Ratcliffe and instrumentalist and producer George Hasbury, Arliston just returned with their new single, “Monks of Lindisfarne”, from their forthcoming album, Disappointment Machine. We caught up with the duo to learn more about their artistry, creative process and upcoming album release.
– Can you share a bit about how Arliston was formed and how your sound has evolved over the years?
Arliston was formed back when we were working out of Aldgate and the project was very early days (really, just a couple of iphone recorded jam sessions), we started working together with increasing frequency after that, and having found big bands of 4 or 5 people super hard to organise and align, eventually realised that a duo was the perfect size of project for us! In terms of our sound, I’d say we were very cautious initially, everything was drenched in reverb, and we didn’t want a single thing to ‘stand out’ and mixing/writing was extremely meticulous and took a lonnnng time. Now we are much more spontaneous and it’s a much more rewarding experience.
– When working on a new song, how do you start? Is it typically a collaborative brainstorming session, or does one of you come up with an initial idea?
Up until now, music would come first and then the lyrics and the melody would come afterwards. But for the ‘Disappointment machine’ album most of the lyrics were written before the music! It was a massive departure for us and our usual way of doing things. After YEARS of swearing that lyrics must only come after music, I think I was probably (typically) wrong. This way around has led to much better lyrical outcomes. It’s so much easier to say what you want to say when you’re not trying to squeeze it into a pre-existing framework!
– How do you handle creative differences when they arise? Can you give an example of a time when you had to compromise on a musical idea?
We had an explosion of creativity in Nov 2023 when we wrote this album. We wrote almost 50 full songs in a month. It was amazing, and creatively fulfilling but it gave us a bit of a problem when trying to pick which of those was going to be ‘killed’ and which would make the 12 track album. We both had our favourites, and had many many long discussions about why they should be included. They didn’t get us very far- I think mostly those arguments just meant we got further entrenched in our views about which songs mattered!
– Can you walk us through the making of your latest single ‘Monks of Lindisfarne’? What was the inspiration behind it?
The title of the song is actually a Peep Show reference, where Jeremy confesses his love for Mark’s girlfriend, and says he feels that that confessing was the ‘honourable’ thing to do. Mark replies “NO, an honourable man would have become a monk, or chopped his nuts off, or gone to Morocco” I was referencing this in a rambling message to this woman, saying not to worry if she didn’t feel the same way, and if that was the case I would become one of the Monks of Lindisfarne and maybe that was a better thing anyway (I don’t think it was one of my best messages).
– Can you discuss any particular moments or projects that marked a turning point in your musical development as a duo?
One thing which consolidated and solidified our belief in the project was a tour we did in Canada in Nov 2019. Up until then we’d really just been a studio-only project, occasionally popping out to do a pub gig, but really just keeping to ourselves. Canada was the first time that we did a full run of shows and properly got into the rhythm of it, while also feeling the audience respond to the things we were doing.
– Can you give us a sneak peek into some of the themes and sounds we can expect from your upcoming album Disappointment Machine?
A general air of sadness, of course. But beyond that ‘Disappointment Machine’ is the most narrative driven and cohesive pieces of music we’ve ever put together. There is a structure that winds through the album, the stages of crisis, grief and eventually reconciliation. Track 1 which describes the night where everything happened, leads onto track 2 which identifies the pattern of behaviour that leads to disappointment and tries (and mostly fails) to put things in perspective. Track 3 then charts the attempts to contact the person and say the right thing. Track 4 is the realisation that you’ve fallen off a waterfall without noticing and are suddenly in a deep state of despondency. Track 5 is the stage of regretting past actions and agonising over alternative realities that could have happened and sliding doors that have been missed. This carries on in track 6 & 7. Track 8 offers a tiny bit of comic relief, the event being far enough away that the funny side can be seen. Finally the album closes with the warmer more upbeat ‘Stay in Brixton’ which allows for a measure of solace, and that perhaps things will be fine after all.
– What advice would you give to other duos or bands on maintaining a productive and harmonious creative partnership?
Having very clearly defined roles has helped us hugely. We’ve each become specialists in the thing that we do within Arliston, and so we know minutely where our role lies. I reckon that has really helped us.
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