ARTHUR on “Hair of the Dog” and “Quarantine Core”

Christopher Parsons

Whether quarantine has you in the qualms of an existential quandary, or you are
simply seeking some thrillingly escapist musings, Philly’s own ARTHUR (Forever Lesbians,
Joy Again), who brought you 2018’s Woof Woof has you covered with his sophomore
release Hair of the Dog due Friday, May 15 on NYC-based 1+ Records imprint,
Honeymoon (Joy Again, Anna of the North, Chynna).

Since January’s release of “I Don’t Want To Talk To You,” ARTHUR has gently been
floating out a new single for each month leading up to the anticipated release including
February’s “William Penn”; “Fatalist” in late March; and, most recently, “No Tengo” which
was officially let out of the bag just last week, each complete with their own respective
artwork and music video.
I was able to catch up with ARTHUR to ask some questions about the collaborative
comradery that went into the multi-faceted production of his masterpiece Hair of the Dog.
The first two music videos (not to mention the bonus sleeper spin-off, supergroup
single) were all produced via Powered By Wind, who also directed some videography
for Joy Again. What can you tell us these cool collaborators?

PBW is a small, independent production company, doubling as a sort of “arts

collective” and aesthetic curator. The two masterminds are Cetkhup (aka “Duck”, aka
Richard Phillip Smith) and Sitcom (aka Jake Lazovick), plus notable contributions from
Noah Burke and Dan Brennan. These city players are embedded in the Philly music scene
and produce visual segments for a slew of other artists, local and otherwise, including NAH
and Hoops.

What can you tell us about the quiet release of “I’ve Got A Tune In My Head”? Is
there more where that came from?

It won’t be on the album but you can DL here. “We want to make more but that was
our ‘pre-quarantine’ one-off. We were joking about classifying it as ‘Quarantine Core.’ We
knew shit was about to hit the fan [with the rise of COVID-19] so we wanted to go crazy for
one last time, and we did!” Burke added that “we were gonna make some more [ARTHUR
music videos]... one [with ARTHUR] boarding up his windows and locking himself inside,
funny enough, but quarantine cancelled all that!”
Your latest video/single, “No Tengo,” is wildly a psychedelic experience, emanating
Animal Collective influences, and much different production styles from Powered By
Wind.

The visuals came from [Jack Wedge] who I found through watching his Adult Swim
shorts on instagram. Later, we realized a connection through mutual friends down in Miami
who also happen to be insane visual artists.

And there are horns on this album?

My Catholic school music teacher played the woodwinds (saxophone, clarinet) on “No
Tengo.” Sam Gellerstein (trombone) and Max Swan (saxophone) play the [horn] parts in
“William Penn.” Long time friend and collaborator, Kieran Ferris, also lends some
guitarwork on songs like “No Tengo.”

I honestly didn’t think anything of it upon first listen (chalking this up to my

impressionable youth conditioned on commercial radio programming), but there is
most certainly an easter egg cheekily nestled in “No Tengo.” Care to speak on the
7-second vignette introducing the track that put me in the mood for jammy 80s disco
radio?
 The first bit, and the ending are samples of “No Tengo Dinero” by Righeira, a really
cool 80s Italo disco group. Their music gets me hype, especially this song.

How is quarantine affecting your creative process?

Tour is cancelled, hopefully just postponed tho. I think I may have some cool
collaborations coming down the line, but they will happen organically and on compulsion. I
imagine we’ll come up with something weird, but I’d rather not plot it out.

For More, Follow...

➔ @arthur.beneficial : For pre-sale and behind-the scenes
➔ Arthur.dog : For all official conduct and promotional detail
➔ Honeymoon : May 15 Release Date
➔ Bandcamp : *Is waiving their share of artist revenue on May-July First
Fridays (*this means 100% of your money goes directly to the artist!)
➔ Spotify | Apple | Tidal : Streaming on all the hottest platforms