Spotlight On... DM Arthur

With a couple of EPs already in the bag, and fresh from releasing single Fire & Soap in August, Glasgow singer-songwriter DM Arthur is back. This Friday, he releases Top of the Hill, the second single to be taken from his forthcoming EP due in November.

A really beautiful, raw single about leaving the past in the past, the track – along with the rest of the Fire & Soap, pt 2 EP – was recorded directly to tape, bringing a hard-to-capture intimacy and warm in-the-room quality to the recording.

Ahead of the new single, we chat to Arthur and gain a great deal of insight on his backstory, from dropping out of uni in Glasgow and moving to London, to his early demos being discovered by producer Stuart Price. We find out more about his forthcoming new single and EP, and what led to him working with Torres and Nina Nesbitt producer Peter Miles.

You released your first single as DM Arthur in 2022. What came before those early releases, and what it was that sparked your interest in music and songwriting?
I was born and raised in a musical family of sorts in Glasgow. Both of my parents met whilst being part of the Glasgow Orchestra and I have three sisters, all of whom play something or other [...] I was sort of nudged down the saxophone/clarinet route from a young age but soon found myself forming an early obsession with Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Bright Eyes, Bob Dylan and even Frank Sinatra to an extent (from my parents' record collection). There was something that deeply resonated with me in music where you could really feel the complex human condition. Something I found to be greatly nestled in a lot of the old crooners and singer-songwriters' work.

Growing up in a working-class catholic family in Glasgow, university was the plan and becoming a musician was not [...] After enrolling at university in Glasgow, I managed two years doing a business degree [before moving] to London aged 19 with nothing but a guitar on my back after selling all of my possessions... As soon as I landed in London I went out and bought an old Tascam 8-track recorder and began to make some home demos.

I spent the next few years working jobs to support myself whilst songwriting and gigging around London until I relocated to Manchester. It was around then that the demos were discovered by producer Stuart Price (The Killers), who then signed [my] band to a major label, and flew us out to his home in Los Angeles where we set to work on a couple of EPs. Due to forces outside all of our control, though, the work was never fully realised and I guess like many artists who’ve experienced the major label music industry machine, they either give up or are forced back to the drawing board.

I was asked to write for a few different people around that time, which I did, as well as starting a new band project, but I knew there was still that burning inside of me to get something else deep within me out into the world. It wasn’t long before I met producer Eliot James who wanted to work together on a couple of releases, so we set about recording a couple of song ideas I had at that time.

I didn’t know it then, but that would eventually lay the foundations for me to be the artist I am today. Through working with Peter Miles on my first full EP last year I’ve learned to allow the songwriting process to unfold outwards from within, whilst at the same time getting out of my own way during the process.

You mentioned the artists you were drawn to in your youth, but who would you say are some of the artists/people that inspire your practice now?
There is so much great new music out there currently, but at the minute I’m listening to a lot of Matt Berninger – he has a way of delivering lines like no other. I love the organically beautiful Bonny Light Horseman’s Keep Me On Your Mind/See You Free, The Magnetic Fields always because their lyrics are total gold, and of course Adrianne Lenker and Big Thief who I think is one of the best songwriters of our generation. Her chord progressions, lyrics and melodies cut like a shark bite straight to the heart.

You’re releasing your latest single, Top of the Hill, at the end of this week – what’s the song about and what was the writing process like?
It’s a song about leaving the past in the past and appreciating it for what it is, I guess, and those beautiful moments in time you can’t just recreate. Believe me, I’ve tried it many times and failed – ha! 

There’s something about the sum of all parts that can’t be put back together and recaptured in the exact same way twice. This is a song about walking away from one of those moments. I wrote this one a week before the session began on acoustic [guitar] and we decided it was to be on the record.

I recorded the whole EP live to tape, which can be quite confronting due to not being able to go in afterwards and redo vocals, change guitar parts etc. It’s very much about capturing the moment in the room at the time. There’s a lot of trust going on in the background, but Peter Miles who produced the record is a master at holding the space for the musicians in the room to be able to bring it all together.

The single is part of your forthcoming EP, Fire & Soap, pt. 2 – what’s the story behind Fire & Soap and why did you decide to split it into two parts?
After writing the song Fire & Soap I thought the title perfectly summed up the whole collection of songs in terms of the journey I’ve been on. It felt like after the recording process the songs could be split into two parts – the first part representing the fire element and the second the cleansing element.

Part one is a collection of songs reflecting on where I’ve come from and the people and experiences that have shaped me into the person I am today. We’re all forged in fire and have that intensity inside of us, which burns and sometimes has to be fed, but sometimes has to be dampened too in order to get through all of life’s challenges. This first part is about traversing the depths of our innermost world and not being afraid to go to the darkness to find the light.

Part two is about hope, forgiveness and being gentle on yourself. It’s not so much of a CTRL-ALT-DEL moment, but more of a learning to make peace with the different parts inside of ourselves and embracing this imperfect human experience.

On the EP you worked alongside producer Peter Miles, with mastering done by Lewis Hopkin – how did those partnerships come about and what was it like working with them?
I heard a song by Rachel Sermanni called Big Desire and instantly fell in love with the sound of it. I did some digging and found it was produced by Peter. I reached out and we had a few conversations about the whole process of recording to tape, which is how Pete likes to record. It’s a totally organic, analogue process that is very different to what I had been used to over the years. I felt like it was everything I had been looking for and it's changed everything about how I approach recording new music now. Once you feel the human element in the process there is no alternative.

When talk of who would master the record came up, there was no doubt in either of mine or Pete's mind of who was the man for the job. Lewis Hopkin, who I’m lucky enough to call a friend now, also mastered my debut EP and when it comes to analogue mastering he is the best in the business, which I’ve been lucky enough to witness first-hand down at his wee converted church in the middle of Dartmoor in Devon. The man is a legend.

Following the release of Top of the Hill, you’re playing The Hug & Pint later in the month – what can people expect from a live DM Arthur show and is anyone else playing on the night?
It’s just me and my trusty Gibson J45 called Bob. It’s very pure, in the sense I’ll be playing the songs exactly how I wrote them at the time, just me and Bob. Thomas Truax will be playing later in the night; he's a really intriguing character, he was once an animator for Robot Chicken, which I love, and he also invents his own instruments. I’m looking forward to meeting him and catching his show.

The EP then follows next month – do you have any more plans around its release?
I’m going to be releasing a new song nobody’s heard from it called House I Grew Up In, which I think is my favourite from both parts of Fire & Soap. I'm also really looking forward to playing my first show in Copenhagen with the new music in December.

Finally, what does the rest of this year and next have in store for you?
I'm hoping to get back into the studio ASAP to record the next record and I’ve also got a few extra special collaborations on the horizon that I can’t wait to share when the time comes, but really I’m just trying to let it all unfold organically and see where we end up.

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Top of the Hill is released on 10 Oct; Fire & Soap, pt. 2 is released on 21 Nov
DM Arthur plays in support of Thomas Truax at The Hug & Pint, Glasgow, 23 Oct

Follow DM Arthur on Instagram @dmarthurgram