“Beguiling experimental pop” CLASH
“Insightful songwriting and soaring instrumentals” – Earmilk
“Everyone has those moments whereby plugging in some headphones and tuning out from the world is the motive, and trio Arliston are making us do just this with their alt-pop” – Wonderland.
Today (4 Nov), ARISTON released their majestic new EP, ‘Even In The Shade’ (via Sob Story Records).
STREAM IN FULL HERE:
https://slinky.to/evenintheshade
Ornate folk-pop that is at once devastatingly beautiful and dazzlingly ambitious, ‘Even In The Shade’ arrives as another gleaming milestone in Arliston’s upward trajectory. With their consistency and knack for rich melodies and contemplative atmospherics paying off, the new EP is the sound of a band exceeding their potential — and not afraid to reach further.
Written during a transitional period that would be divisive and uncertain for most bands, Arliston managed to transform a daunting situation into a more fruitful one. George Hasbury explains:
“We had just lost our drummer, amicably, so we were a little adrift as we started making this EP. The first song we wrote was “Mothering,” which was sort of inherently smaller without a dummer’s presence. But it still felt good, and like Arliston, and after that, the rest of the songs quickly emerged.”
From the quiet circumspection on “Mothering” to the plucky and playful ‘80s-tinged “Hold My Wine,” ‘Even In The Shade’ is a clear and confident departure from Arliston’s previous work; illustrating deftly how the band’s sound continues to shift and evolve in new and unexpected ways.
A stellar display of the duo’s breadth — even whilst attempting to navigate the changing dynamics and logistical issues that come with being down a drummer — the new EP sees earlier singles accompanied by three previously unheard tracks. From the intricate acoustics of “Tombstone Teeth” to the infinite and all-encompassing percussion on “‘TV Dinner” or the quietly caressing keys and fluttering beats on “Sydenham Place,” the EP shows the band’s nous for classic songwriting refracted through an Arliston lens.
Produced by the duo and mix-mastered by Brett Shaw (Foals, Florence and the Machine), Jack Ratcliffe adds:
“I think we feel like we’re only just finding our feet with the project and where we want it to go, and that’s a really exciting feeling! We’re starting to get the feedback and the response that we’d hoped for, so we’re more energized than ever.”
With intricate production and tight musicianship seeing the band expertly toe the line between optimism and melancholia, Arliston has amassed over 38,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and gained placement on a number of the streaming giant’s editorial playlists including New Music Friday and The Most Beautiful Songs In The World. Well, and truly embedding themselves in the music scene, Arliston has also gained praise from the likes of Notion, Wonderland, Earmilk, and CLOUT, with the latter saying, “Arliston has star quality written all over them.” Elsewhere, Clash Magazine have lauded the band’s music as “beguiling experimental pop,” with The 405 applauding their “swirling ambient sensitivity.”
