Arthur Lewis shares words with Mandrake FM

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A recommendation from friends and a link on Muhsinah’s MySpace led me to this native New York songwriter and performer, Arthur Lewis. He recently took some time to share words with me about his latest EP, If We Were, as well as thoughts on internet promotion and musical inspiration.

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MFM: You released a delicious pop/soul EP, If We Were, in late 2008. What was your musical inspiration at the time of its recording?

Thank you! Well, I’m always listening. And everything I hear makes it into the way I write in some way or another. I think the most pervasive influence on that album was Prince – a lot of the way I look at harmonies comes from him. D’Angelo (especially Voodoo) was a big factor in the way I dealt with time, especially on La Da Da Dee and If We Were. Definitely some Thom Yorke in Far Side, some Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake in La Da Da Dee, and some Kanye in Silly Pop Song. I think Sweet Reprise happened when I’d been listening to Andrew Bird’s Armchair Apocrypha, but the feel of it was borrowed from a great songwriter friend of mine, Matt Kanelos. And The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, and Steely Dan permeate pretty much everything I do.

MFM: Your EP was also released with a Creative Commons Noncommercial License. Why was it important for you to do that?

Actually, as of right now, only Far Side of Town has the Attribution-Noncommercial license, which was done way after the fact. I’ve been meaning to release the rest of the EP that way, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

These days, it all boils down to the question of how you get people to hear your music. Some artists do amazing raucous live shows, and everyone comes down and gets drunk with their friends. My shows, while I like to think they’re pretty good, don’t really do that. So word of mouth spreads slowly. What’s left is traditional marketing/promotion, for which I neither have the knack nor the resources, and the Internet.

For a couple of days in mid-December, there was some blogosphere buzz about the idea of viral content, and one post I read really struck me (http://www.mikearauz.com/2008/12/pass-along-is-made-of-people.html). You can’t force something to go viral; all you can do is pump out the best content you can, and make sure that there are no barriers to sharing. So I thought I’d experiment: make one song completely and totally accessible. If people want to send it to their friends, they can. If they want to make a video out of it, they can. If they want to remix it, they can. Whatever they want to do, as long as they link back to me, and don’t make money off of it.

It’s been interesting so far. It’s very hard to tell whether this sort of thing makes any difference, but I get the feeling it has. I’ve gotten two videos so far (both of which are linked from my Youtube page), and some people have expressed interest in trying something out, so I figure if I do the whole album that way, eventually something might click.

MFM: At your blog, your tag line is “Selling my soul, but keeping a copy”. Explain that.

I’m kind of a nerd, so I’m often thinking about intellectual property, copyright, the digital age, etc. The idea there was the fundamental difference between selling digital vs. tangible resources. I mean, it’s been discussed over and over by people more qualified than I, but it’s the whole question of how selling a loaf of bread is different from selling a download. The bread is gone, but you still have your MP3, and it’s exactly the same as the one you sold. So when you sell something digital, you haven’t really lost anything.

That’s what I was hinting at with the tag line. There’s a certain narrative of success that says you have to compromise in order to reach a big audience. That you have to “sell out” your “art” in order to reach your cookie-cutter goals of fame and fortune. But things have changed a lot in the past few years, to the point where, outside of the major label-360 deal-recoup or die model, it’s almost the opposite. To distinguish yourself from the throngs of people making records in their bedrooms, you have to be unrelentingly yourself. The less you compromise and second-guess, the better your chances of connecting with a growing audience.

So that line (and who knew there would be so much implication in just 7 words) is about selling out without selling out. Selling my soul, my very personal and individual music, without giving up any part of who I am and what I want to say.

MFM: Which fellow musicians or music projects are grabbing your ears right now?

My favorite songwriter right now is Matt Kanelos. He’s been doing shows in New York for years. Fantastic sensitive piano player; really beautiful and interesting songs. His song Peacock Dance is this glorious 5-minute build; it kills me every time. I also love Roland Satterwhite, a singer/songwriter currently living in Berlin.

Muhsinah’s great; she’s doing some groundbreaking stuff, and I can’t wait for her new album. I like to go see “The Secret Life of Sofia” and “Bing and Ruth” when I have the chance.

I’ve really gotten into John Mayer over the past few years. Given what I knew about him, when I first heard Continuum, I was shocked. He’s got a great sense of melody, and really focuses on getting the right feel for each song. That album is like Steely-Dan tight. I’ve watched a bunch of interviews with him, and it’s so refreshing to see someone at that level of popularity who understands what’s important about songwriting.

And, of course, I am holding my breath until the next D’Angelo record comes out. I’m actually glad it didn’t come out last fall, as some magazines said it would, or I might never have finished If We Were.

Ooh, and Jazmine Sullivan. Her melodies are consistently great, and her singing on “In Love With Another Man” is heartbreaking.

MFM: Your piano playing sounds great. Any possibility of at least an EP of your vocals over solo piano?

Thanks! I’ve actually just started really working on solo piano/vocal chops. I’d been playing with an ever-growing band for a while, which was fun, but my last two shows have been just me, and I’ve learned so much about performance from them. There’ll be more solo stuff in my next project, which I’m planning to start in the next few weeks. It won’t be an album, but it will be interesting! Anyone who wants to find out more should stay tuned to my blog at arthurthefourth.com or get on my mailing list.
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Enjoy the track, “Far Side of Town”, from Arthur Lewis. Listen to more of Arthur’s music at his MySpace page.

[audio http://mandrakesociety.com/wp-content/farsideoftown.mp3]

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