DM Arthur has released his new EP ‘Hopeless, Sometimes’.
Speaking of his EP, DM Arthur said: “After years of trying to “make it” in the music industry as part of various bands and having sacrificed everything you could sacrifice in pursuit of a career in music, everything had seemingly collapsed around me. I felt like I didn’t know my place in the world anymore, a bit like a disillusioned, bearded Ron Burgundy in “a glass cage of emotion” stumbling through life with an open carton of milk questioning all my life choices. I retreated back home to Glasgow where I slowly started to pick up my guitar and make sounds for myself again without any expectations or pressures from outside influences.”
To celebrate his EP release, DM Arthur shared with us 5 tracks that influenced ‘Hopeless, Sometimes’.
Adrianne Lenker – Ruined
This was a bit of a soundtrack around the time of when I wrote ‘Hopeless Sometimes.’ I absolutely love Adrianne Lenker’s work, she’s a mind-blowingly authentic singer/songwriter and has hugely inspired me as an artist throughout. This song floored me when I first heard it and it instantly became part of the fabric and backdrop of my life at that point back in March of this year, around the same time I was putting the ‘Hopeless, Sometimes’ record together. I love the simplicity of it and the direct emotion that’s served up on this song.
John Prine – Clay Pigeons
I’d say this song more than most maybe influenced ‘Breathe Without You’ in some way. I love the way John Prine delivers Blaze Foley’s ‘Clay Pigeons’. Again I think there’s so much power in the simplicity of it. To me, John Prine is one of the best songwriters that ever lived so I suppose it’s quite strange that I’m including one of his covers. The stripped back approach and restraint in terms of the instrumentation was an influence on the whole EP.
Rachel Sermanni – Big Desire
Whilst looking for a collaborator to bring the songs for this record to life I was completely struck by a song called ‘Big Desire’ by a Scottish folk singer called Rachel Sermanni and I instantly knew I had to work with whoever produced it. Little did I know existed a sonic wizard by the name of Peter Miles who lived and worked out of a studio called Middle Farm in Devon. His unique approach encouraged me to rip up everything I had previously learned about the recording process and learn to trust in myself again as a musician and believe that I could actually make this record.
Aldous Harding – Stop Your Tears
I first heard this seeing Aldous performing it live in the flesh in front of me and it absolutely captivated me and has since never left me. The subject matter in this song really hits home with my own upbringing coming from a strict religious Catholic household in Glasgow with three sisters. Having been brought up through the Catholic Church, the underlying darkness of organised religion always intrigued me. These themes are never far from my own music, with half joking lines on ‘I Want You’ like, “I’ll say a Prayer for you and you’ll say a prayer for me too.” Religion has a lot to answer for and it has no doubt influenced this record.
Frightened Rabbit – I Wish That I Was Sober
Scott Hutchison is one of my all time favourite songwriters. He is one of the most heartbreakingly honest songwriters I’ve ever listened to. He’s one of the best ever and that’s that. His music moves me like few others do. I love how he’s able to turn some of life’s hardest emotions into breathtakingly beautiful and direct songs. This song in particular is always on my playlists and no doubt influenced my own record in its own way. There’s a darkness and melancholy there that Scott’s dealing with which you could say is found on title track ‘Hopeless, Sometimes’ and ‘Doghouse,’ so Scott Hutchison is as big an inspiration as any could be for this record.
Listen to DM Arthur’s music influences:
Stream DM Arthur ‘Hopeless, Sometimes’ via Spotify: