Arctic Lake In Conversation With FAULT Magazine
Photography: Jack Alexander
Today we sit down with Arctic Lake, the dynamic duo consisting of vocalist Emma Foster and multi-instrumentalist/producer Paul Holliman to delve into the inspiration behind their EP, the challenges of baring it all in their music, and the dynamics of their collaboration.
The title of you EP, “How Do You Make It Look So Easy?,” can you share the inspiration behind this title and how it relates to the music on the EP?
Paul: We’ve always tried to stay away from just naming a body of work after a song, whether it’s a lyric from one of the songs or just an idea about the general theme we usually try and encapsulate it in a way that feels a bit more special to us. The title of this EP ties into the themes of the song, which are mainly about the struggles that we go through in life and love, so it’s kind of looking around going ‘hang on why is everyone else doing better than me?’. But it’s also a bit of an insight into what we’re doing after this EP as well, which we shall reveal at a later date in an effort to be all cool and mysterious (is it working?).
Vulnerability is a key element in your music – do you find it daunting to leave so much of yourselves out there for understanding but also critique?
Emma: To be honest it absolutely terrified me at the start (and sometimes still does) but I didn’t really see another way. Songwriting naturally became an outlet for me. I don’t think I can write about stuff that’s not coming from within. I remember when we first started Paul was asking me what all of the songs were about and there were quite a few that I genuinely wasn’t sure, they just sort of wrote themselves without me thinking and it wasn’t until much, much later that I was like woah, that was clearly about all of this and Paul was like ermmm, yeah I didn’t want to say but it did seem fairly obvious where it was coming from haha! That being said, we’ve always from the very start set out wanting to create music that makes people feel something, that helps them whether it’s to laugh or to cry. When we get messages from people saying what a song has done for them or how they’ve interpreted a song, it makes every single tear worthwhile. It’s a universal medium that can bring us together and for that, I no longer feel afraid of being vulnerable.
What can listeners expect from your upcoming U.K. tour, are there any particular tracks you’re most excited to play live?
Paul: They can expect tears, dancing, laughing, and maybe even a song or two… no we’re so excited to get out and play for everyone! I’m so ready to play these new songs as we’ve only played them live a couple of times, so it will be really special to feel the energy live and share some new moments with the people that mean the most to us.
“Fool” is a track that resonates with many as it touches on the challenge of letting go of love. What was the inspiration behind this song, and what message do you hope fans take away from it?
Emma: This song is one of my favourites off of the EP because it holds so much within it. The inspiration started off from my own difficult experiences intertwined with those of my best friend, who at the time was going through a really damaging relationship. I then began taking inspiration from lots of friends and family which felt really special to me because the message and feeling in this song is so well known to so many of us. It’s about loving someone who isn’t good for you. Loving someone who despite their flaws, you find impossible to let go of. It’s about recognising how they’ve made you change. It’s a difficult song but I love how Paul and Micah took that and made the production a story of both dark and light. It makes you want to move, it’s slightly chaotic and the ‘ah ah’ loop you hear of my voice sounds like an inner voice going ‘haha’ through the whole song to me which maybe sounds absolutely evil but feels right. It’s like a devil on the shoulder in those moments making you feel worse, all the overthinking that we tend to do.
Paul: To be honest not really – reviews and all that stuff are great but the things that keep us going are messages we get from fans all around the world telling us how much the music means to them, and that’s better than any 5 star review! Although maybe our manager would feel different, so yes I am dying to get a review from the Guardian telling us we are the most innovative act since a Neanderthal started grunting in tune and invented music. If not I’ll settle for a hug from my mum.
As a duo, what are the dynamics of your collaboration and how do you balance each other’s strengths and creative ideas when making music?
Paul: We’ve been making music together for so long now that we’re basically like siblings that don’t really need to say a huge amount – we actually do a lot separately, which gives each of us a lot of time to focus on getting something right instead having the pressure to do something in a day, whether I’m spending 3 hours trying to get the right chord or sound or Emma takes a couple of weeks to find the perfect lyric to make the song work. Then we can bring it together and dissect it, rework it and most likely spend the best part of a year questioning everything about the song and ourselves, then we’ll send it to other people for opinions and see if we’re going mad or not. Also sometimes songs can just fall out in a few minutes, but I wish that would happen a bit more often for us!
What’s been the most challenging hurdle of your musical journey so far?
(Emma) I think the most challenging hurdle has been battling the fine line of influence and experimentation with authenticity. When we put out our first song Limits it really catapulted our career but we had no idea who we were and it’s essentially taken until now to work that out! It feels like everyone else has everything figured out from the get go and you feel guilty or not good enough if you’ve not worked that out before the age of 18! We’ve been on a long journey as both songwriters and artists and it’s hard to not let those outside voices hold sway and it’s hard to feel confined within a box for the sake of consistency, when you still don’t know what box and whether a box that exists at all works for you. During that journey we’ve found both liberation and loss of self and if you ever put out something that doesn’t feel true to you, you wonder why you’re jumping through these hurdles at all so that’s definitely been a battle but a battle that’s been rewarding! When you can step into the studio and know exactly who you are and what you want to make, it’s so beautiful. I think this latest EP shows that journey in a way. I have to say that potentially, eating soup from cans the entire duration of one of our European tours might be a close second, mix in two snoring boys and breaking down in the Swedish countryside after dark and maybe it’s number one actually!
What is your FAULT?
Paul: If there’s food near me, I will eat it. I don’t care who’s it is or where it came from, it’s going down my fucking gullet. Oh and my complete inability to form and sustain romantic relationships.