The Band Explains: The Arthur Brothers - 'Lovesunk'
We speak to The Arthur Brothers about their heart-warming animated visuals (created by Loribo (Natalia Beltyukova)) for their cosmic symphonic pop single, ‘Lovesunk’ which explores unrequited love and stars a lovely little mole as its main character.
How was the video for ‘Lovesunk’ made and who created it?
The video was made by a wonderful visual artist called ‘Loribo’ (aka Natalia Beltiukova loribo.art) She is actually the mother of ‘Tribambuka’ who made the video for our previous single ‘Violet Hum’. We love family connections in the Arthur bros!
How does the video connect with the song?
I was always told you need to be careful with being too specific in describing the meaning of your songs, but this one has obvious links to the idea of love and loss and the coming and going of relationships. Loribo has done a beautiful job of interpreting these ideas in a strange and beautiful mystical animated world where the main protagonist is a little mole creature who's feeling unrequited love for a bird who keeps flying away from him - or as Loribo says maybe he is just longing to fly too. I think this really sits well with the otherworldly and almost childlike sound of the record itself.
Do you have any behind the scenes stories you can share with us?
Yeah loads! The song itself started as a gospel-type song that I wrote on the piano that was all about people who were waiting for ‘the rapture’ when the world was going to end and they’d sold all of their stuff, only to find that the world in fact didn’t end when they thought it would. Then they had to go and buy all their furniture back.
My brothers (biological bro Danny and musical bro and producer Julian - J. C. Wright) liked elements of it but they weren’t completely sold, haha! What we did was get a load of old synthesisers out that were in this dusty back room in the warehouse where we were recording and constructed the soundscape that the track is now based upon. Then Julian and I stayed up all night one night and completely re-wrote the lyrics and the melody. It was a great example of when you get on a roll in the studio and you can’t stop… when you strike a bit of magic.
Another thing was that I really struggled to get the lead vocal right on the track when we were recording it. For some reason I couldn’t quite find the emotional connection to it. And then one night I just started imagining that I was singing it from the point of view of a little mole - or some sort of subterranean creature - and from then on I had this little character in my head and the recording became much easier. There were a lot of laughs in the studio when Jules would say down the talkback things like "think what 'little moley' would be feeling here Matty"...well creepy! Vocal production method acting haha! We also told Loribo about this little ‘moley’ creature which influenced her decision on the characters in the video.
As for video making behind the scenes stories....well you'd have to ask Loribo / Natalia about them however we do know that all of the creatures and characters in the video were made by her and are a beautiful representation of her artwork which includes making things from bits of wood she finds, to paper mache objects and creatures, and also ceramics. Basically she is incredibly prolific and makes art from whatever takes her fancy. Go to her website and you can see many more examples of her amazing work. We also know that this was her first ever attempt at animation - which is astounding really. She taught herself while making the video! I think she saw her daughter Tribambuka's brilliant animation for our last video and said 'oh I'd like to do that' and asked us for a song. Also the whole video was made by her in St Petersburg where she lives - so there's an exotic location behind the scenes tale for you!
Could you tell us about the ideas/ themes/ imagery used?
I’ve said a bit about this already but I think it’s interesting that we had the lyric “trapped like a subterranean” before I had imagined the little mole creature as being the voice of the song. In fact I think that was Julian’s line so I’m allowed to say that I think it’s fantastic! I love the way the word 'subterranean’ scans and sounds. Also, I think everyone has felt that feeling when they’ve lost someone or they’re waiting for someone or something and it can feel as if you’re buried under the weight of everything that you’re feeling.
What do you hope people take away from watching the video?
I hope people feel heart-warmed and hopeful after watching this video - its very charming and sweet but in a really strange, intriguing and slightly absurd way. And it has a happy ending!
Interview by Karla Harris