T.H.E Interview – Arc

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arc interview

Following their brand-new single ‘Down’ ft. Emma Wizz on Therapy Sessions, we caught up with production duo Arc about their release as well as their forthcoming album, due to drop this Spring.

Hannah – How does it feel to finally begin revealing your forthcoming album? And how long has it been in the works for and how do you think your recent single has been received?

Tetsu – well in all honesty it’s taken around three years. It was a big change in our collective styles. We’d been touring a lot, and two years in we decided to write something for the 5am slot. When we were finally coming home after djing. Music to keep the party going but intimate and vibes. ‘Down’ the single has been received fantastically, it’s a stand out track on the album, very sultry and smooth in juxtaposition to the Raw drums of most of the other tracks on An Evening with Loss.

Charlie – Yeah it’s been a long time in the making, so we’re super stoked to release it. One of the reasons we took our time with it is because each track has certain significance to both of us for both many reasons, and also expressing the exact feeling that we look for in this 5am vibe. Tetsu and I have some differences in our musical tastes and styles, but we use this difference to evolve our sound. This is always developing with us and writing the album has been an enlightening journey. Down was received exactly how we wanted, so thank you to everyone who shared the love.

Hannah – How did you come under the gaze of Therapy Sessions? What is it about the label which drew you to them?

Charlie – It was Tetsu who got me really into brutal music, especially the drum and bass side, I’ve always been more of a techno head, and it’s still my first love but when he showed this new world of sound, most of which I found via therapy sessions, it was an awakening. Taught me a lot about pushing the limits of my productions as well. So yeah it was serious gratitude time when Robyn loved the album and wanted to represent us.

Tetsu – I’d been djing Drum & Bass Horror for around 13 years, Anger Management was the dream, it had the best roster and also Therapy Sessions was the one night you could count on. I’d been in touch with Robyn with the new direction myself and Charlie we’re looking into, and she asked to take a listen. Amazingly she picked it up and has been championing it.

Hannah – How do you both collaborate physically on music – for example, do you work in the same studio together? And how did you get linked up with the vocalists for your album, specifically Emma Wizz on ‘Down’?

Tetsu – Yes at the beginning we wrote everything in the same space. Then I moved to Barcelona, it took longer for us to collaborate, but we could still make it work remotely. Now we’re both back in the same town and album two is sounding Mmmmmmm

Charlie – When we were in London and France we were working together all the time, but I made the decision to leave Barcelona and come back to France, so we worked more remotely together over that time, but we always made it work. However, as Tetsu said, now we’re living super close so were hitting the studio hard on the regular which is great.

We first saw Emma playing at a private party in the south of France and simultaneously said ‘Mate we need to work with her…’. She is pure fire, it’s always a pleasure to work with such talent, you learn a lot yourself as well which is cool.

Hannah – What can fans expect from ‘An Evening with Loss’? What do you think are the most defining parts of the album, both in terms of how your sound has evolved, as well as how the tracks which are the most standout to each of you personally?

Tetsu – hmmm now that’s hard. It’s a collective sound for sure, I’ve always been into harder drums and brutal bass, Charlie has the classical training and sound, always bringing the melodies. So I guess you can expect to get a slice of our minds at 5 am. It really is a unique sound. It definitely can’t be put into a solid genre. I guess the tracks on the album that sum up my personality it’s probably Pillz and Tail of Eden.

Charlie- Tetsu nailed it there, it’s been really cool to fuse our different sounds into one unique sound. When we wrote Pillz we had just finished a tour, somewhat broken, but we wanted to write something that was a hard-hitting journey. Then when had the privilege of Mestizo spitting on the track, it was the cherry on the bass cake. His flow is mesmerising and hard as fuck. Also, immune, for me it’s really special. Writing it was so much fun and it’s such a hard-hitting track with both melodic emotion and also that bass that makes ya body shake. We wrote it while on tour, which is always a great experience to use the fatigue of the road to creating something special.

Hannah – When you first met, did you know you’d instantly hit it off musically? And what did you think of each other as musicians before you began collaborating?

Charlie – The minute I met Tetsu I knew we would create together in some way. We vibed right off the bat and it wasn’t long until the music started. In the beginning, he taught me a lot about DJing and I taught him about producing. He picked it up crazy fast, like Id never seen. He’s a true artist, plus its jokes to work together. Despite us driving each other mad sometimes the brotherhood always stays strong. I wouldn’t want to work with anyone else.

Tetsu – If I’m honest, the moment I met Charlie I knew we were destined to work together, also to be best friends. He does drive me mad, but without a doubt one of the most talented young men I’ve met. We really were coming from two completely different worlds but touring the beach life for four years and playing over 400+ shows brought us together in perfect ‘fuck you’ harmony hahaha.

Hannah – Let’s talk about your music video for ‘Down’ – is that Emma Wizz staring in the shots? And how did the idea around the visuals come about? Did you have a shared vision for it?

Tetsu – Yes Emma is the focus of Down and in fact, three more tracks on the album. She’s an incredible talent that we’re very happy to have worked with, no doubt destined for great things. The visuals for Down came from Kevin Froly. A new wave cinematographer we’re looking to working with for the foreseeable future, incredible talent on the rise in Paris.

You can get their latest single ‘Down’ via their Bandcamp.

Hannah Helbert

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