Arvo Party (Herb Magee) has taken ambient music by the reins and has steered the genre in an exciting direction. Playful synths, cascading rhythms and sparkling melodies amount to tracks that triumph in their surety of sound. With four albums released in 2020 (and more in the pipeline!), Arvo Party shows no sign of stopping. Herb is looking to expand the project to the highest of heights by exploring different soundscapes, continuing his work in lockdown and planning even more records. We spoke about his latest releases, refreshing remixes and defining live performances.

 

First of all, I want to say congrats on your latest releases. You’ve released four albums since the beginning of the year which is fairly impressive. Was this the plan for 2020? 

 

Thank you, I’m relatively impressed myself! This year was always going to be a very busy release year for me, yes, but I didn’t plan on having 3 months free to work on the various projects that were kicking around inside my head. I had always planned at least 3 releases this year but now it’ll probably be more like 6 or 7 by the time Christmas rolls around.

 

Passenger is an eclectic album between ‘80s tributes and Legend of Zelda references. Was the process of making Passenger different to Devotions and Devotions II?

 

Erm, in some ways, yes? Half of the tracks on Passenger had been patiently waiting for me to finish them and I wasn’t sure if it was an EP or what it was, really. I’ve also been trying to steer the Arvo Party project away from that style as I always wanted it to progress stylistically with each release BUT I thought that people might want to hear it and maybe even more so given the state of the world. When I sat down to think about it I ended up adding to it and realised I had another release on my hands.

 

Love Above All also stands out from your other 2020 releases. Can you talk to me a bit about that album? It’s themes and inspirations? ‘Tennyson’ is a standout track from the record.

 

Thank you! Love Above All was always intended to be the third Arvo Party album. I built it around the title track and ‘Tennyson’. I spent the best part of the last 12 months working on it, knowing it would be the first proper release in a while. The overwhelming inspiration behind it was to make something better than anything I had released before, really. I started this project with almost no knowledge of making electronic music and I think it’s interesting to document the development of that through each release. 

 

I do all of this on my own, either at home or in the midst of some great transit, so if there is a theme at all, I suppose it would be the concept of transitioning from one solitary space to another. 

 

‘Tennyson’, rhythmically at least, was very much inspired by Four Tet.

 

Since beginning to produce your own music in 2016, has anything changed in your sound? Has the journey in experimental electronic and ambient been one of discovery or have you always had a certain sound in mind?

 

Yes, lots of things have changed! I’m learning new things every day. The discovery is a big part of it, the learning and development of myself as an artist too. When I started this, I just wanted to find a sound, then I wanted to make banging ‘80s music, then I wanted to progress. Right now, all I want to do is make sounds which have never been heard before and have the ability to place the listener in a precise space but ask me next week and I might just want to make a pipe organ record. Who knows?

 

Your remixes and covers (especially your collaborations with LARKS) seem to carry hopeful notes and fresh insights into classics. Do you enjoy working on these projects? Do they offer a break from your own work or do you see their reworkings as an extension of your skill-set?

 

The LARKS collabs are a lot of fun because I get to listen to Fiona’s voice, and I could do that all day. The speed at which she is able to send me dozens of perfect vocal takes is terrifying and amazing. We should probably do another one. The remixes are usually just for fun, but I really enjoy taking a vocal and building a brand new, reharmonised world around it. They’re definitely a break from my own work, but I learn so much by doing them. I see it all as an extension. Sometimes I’m tempted to take the vocals off remixes and keep them for myself, but I haven’t done that yet.

 

How has lockdown been for you creatively? Some musicians have been incredibly productive whereas some have taken this time as a well-deserved break, were you somewhere in-between or at an extreme end of DIY productivity?

 

When lockdown started I threw myself into creativity as I was self isolating and had so many projects in my head which I finally had time to finish or start, so I did just that. That didn’t last long, though. Life does eventually get in the way, and now that I’m at the other end of it I’m experiencing compassion fatigue and mental exhaustion, so I’ve found self care taking the place of ‘work’. However, Love Above All, two Devotions albums, a remix album and Passenger isn’t bad for 4/5 months work. Never mind the stuff which hasn’t been released yet!

 

Do you think the current Irish music scene gives space to electronic and more ambient music? Techno can crowd line-ups etc due to its more pulsating and hypnotic beats. Is it fair to say the scenes in Ireland and Northern Ireland could be more diverse in genre?

 

I’m not sure that I have the right to comment on the electronic music scene as, while my music certainly veers into electronic for the most part, I don’t feel a part of that or any scene at all. I feel like the internet has expanded the idea of what a scene is or can be, especially now that we all live inside. I haven’t gigged that much as Arvo Party but, bar one or two experiences, I have always felt out of place as an electronic artist. Many of the gigs I’ve done have been squeezed in-between DJs or bands and that tells me that genre doesn’t really exist. Also, that nobody really seems to know the difference between a DJ and a live performance which I must admit, I absolutely hate. I’ve never really been a club goer so I don’t know if my music belongs there either. I think the scenes are pretty diverse. I would, however, question if most people know the difference between DJs and live performances (myself included).

 

Bit of a controversial question considering everything is so up in the air at the moment but what’s on the cards for Arvo Party in the future?

 

The future for this project is probably one or two more releases this year. The next two records are written. One, I have been working on for nearly 2 years, and the other is a collaboration. I’ll hopefully get those out this year then change the name and start afresh? Who knows? One of my reasons for starting this was to get into scoring films and things, so I’ll be looking out for more of that sort of work once those industries open up again. Another Devotions record is definitely on the cards but maybe under a different name? I just want to push myself forward and do new things, create art which pleases me and if it pleases someone else then great.

 

Devotions II is available to listen to across all streaming platforms.