In Conversation With #278 - AR/CO
AR/CO have just released their debut EP ‘Origin Stories’ – a futuristic desert rave fuelled experience that creates a psychedelic dance-pop soundtrack.
Coming from polar opposites on the planet, Mali-Koa (Sydney) and AR/CO partner Leo Stannard (Leicester) started their own individual adventures in music before they met at a writing session. They intended to reconnect, but the pandemic had other ideas - yet undeterred, they spent hours-upon-hours collaborating via Zoom, not only writing songs but imagining an entire world that their music could inhabit. Together, they realised that they loved their new project more than anything they had worked on before. And that was the genesis of AR/CO.
They took a moment to talk to us about how the EP came together.
Hey AR/CO, how are you? So your debut EP is out now – how does it feel to have it out there?
What’s up guys! We’re good thanks, super excited that Origin Stories is out in the world. We’ve been writing across the world for the last couple years, so we’re ready for a proper send off.
It is called ‘Origin Stories’ – what is the meaning behind that?
AR/CO world has been such an imaginative process for us. We/re creating a whole story and this is the beginning. You meet a bunch of new central characters, we’ve been really inspired by Gorillaz and how you can see it all unfold when you look back. We wanna do the same.
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories you are willing to share with us?
A couple of these songs were last minute ideas, or started as jokes that turned into magic. It’s crazy how you can be 8 hours into writing something and the last half hour is where it all happens. Boys Like Girls, Night Feels and Cherry Lips took a combined total of an hour and a half to write.
What are the key influences behind the EP?
We wanted to take the magic of the music we both grew up listening to and make our own new wave. MGMT, Justice, Empire of the Sun - they really inspired this first chapter for us.
If the EP could be a soundtrack to any film – which one and why?
Saltburn, except take “Murder on the dance floor” and replace it with “Boys Like Girls”. Or, curveball “The Perks of being a Wallflower” with opening credits to “Call Me by my name”.
Do you have a favourite lyric on the EP? If so, which one and why?
“We’re never ending, always changing. I take my mind to swim in your Oasis” We wrote that verse in the backyard of Leo’s spot, because we didn’t finish the song in the session. You know you’re a good blagger when you manage to rhyme changing and Oasis.
Now the EP is out there – what next for you?
We have some sick collabs, we’ve been working with our musical heroes. That’ll all be revealed later in the year. Otherwise, the band is taking a well deserved summer holiday as we go visit family in Trinidad and Fiji.
