‘Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can’.
Announcing
Motives, the debut 5 track EP from Auckland rock artist
Arrays. Sounding like the bastard love child resulting from a threesome between Chevelle, Foo Fighters and Queens of The Stone Age while Northlane watched, Arrays is the moniker beneath which Auckland rock musician JP Carroll
Armed in Advance releases music that he alone has produced, performed, engineered and mixed. The end goal is to, primarily, produce greater output as an artist, but also to learn and grow as a songwriter, producer, performer and sound engineer by challenging himself to step up the quality of the music with each release, as authentically as possible on a budget of next to nothing.
Motives is step 1. Produced from the comfort of a 2x3m squared office in an Onehunga residence, the drums were recorded on an electronic kit and replaced with samples; The guitars were recorded direct into the computer and overlaid with emulators; the vocals were tracked surrounded by bafflers in order to reduce as much noise as possible - both from the reflections off the walls and the suburban flux that exists just beyond them. Considering one of the main goals of this project was to produce authentic music, this so far doesn’t sound authentic at all; but this goal is restored in the performances.
Far from a naturally talented drummer, JP nevertheless set the challenge upon himself to perform all 5 tracks on the drums from start to finish in a single take, to a quality that would require the least amount of editing. Literally hundreds of practice runs and failed takes later, this was achieved, and some of the final takes are viewable on the
Arrays Facebook Page. The same can be said for guitars and bass - main tracks recorded in a single take with minimal editing to attain a tight, natural feel with performance, and a record that is as authentic as possible - given the circumstances.
This record also represents the first time JP has officially released any music with a credit as a mixing engineer; Hundreds of demos have come and gone over the years he has been writing and operating as a musician, but in the last year he invested in himself and upskilled his mixing and engineering repertoire, in the interest of producing a project that sounds as good as possible.
‘Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can’. This cliche is what birthed
Motives, and so in that regard this is EP is thoroughly authentic. With step 1 done, the prospect of the next step looms, and having learned so much, things can only get better.
Motives is due for release September 1.
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