NEW SINGLE: SENSELESS OUT NOW
Music retailer HMV is moving from selling records to, once more, releasing them following the signing of UK artist India Arkin to its 1921 Records imprint.
Arkin, from Newcastle in the northeast of England, is the first artist to be signed by the retail giant to its new vinyl-only label. Arkin has released five singles to date, her first coming out in 2021. She is relatively unknown, with her tracks streaming in the low thousands on Spotify where she has just 178 monthly listeners.
- For someone that is yet to discover India Arkin, how would you describe your music? The perfect marriage between thunderous psychedelic rock and intimate indie ballads
- What inspired you as an artist? I am inspired by events in my day to day life, and musically draw influence from a lot of different places- lately I’m finding myself listening to Alice Phoebe Lou very often at the moment; and feeling really inspired by her beautifully poetic lyricism.
- What is your process for preparing to perform live? Do you have any Diva demands? Truly only recently I have built in more of a routine to prepare for a live show; I’ve begun doing regular vocal exercises before I go on stage to help warm up my voice (as after touring I began really feeling it). I also honestly just check in with the band, make sure we have everything we need, have a group huddle, and go for it- no diva demands here I’m afraid haha.
- Where do you feel you fit into the music landscape?
As hard as it is to describe what you are creatively, when you draw from so many different musical influences. I would say that I most broadly fall into the indie singer-song-writer category.
5: What are your favourite musical genres, and are there any you dislike? I would say I’m very musically open, especially since working with so many different
musicians who all find inspiration in so many different places. Personally however I think I’m mostly drawn to alternative, indie / indie rock and psychedelic soundscapes- and on occasion I do love a bit of jazz and soul (which I feel you can definitely here the
influence of in my music). 6: Is there a story behind Senseless? Senseless is about dating someone who you know isn’t good for you, but wanting them anyway…which I’m sure is something a lot of us can relate to. 7: What would you say is your greatest strength as an Artist? I think I’m really good at articulating emotion in poetic and sensitive ways, which I will say is a tricky thing when every beautiful line under the sun has always already been written 8: What would you say is your greatest weakness as an Artist? Personally I feel that the biggest thing I face is drawing the line between what is giving too much versus too little away. Songwriting definitely forces you to be vulnerable, especially as a lyricist, so getting the balance right is definitely something I toy with and I think I will continue to try to figure out. 9:What can fans expect from your new single Senseless? Senseless is a timeless rock banger that both makes you want to weep with empathy and simultaneously scream in rage, the perfect song for any mood. 1 10:What music artist would you say have influenced your work? I am very influenced by Wolf Alice, especially with my latest release “Senseless”. Most
especially by their song “Smile” and its amazingly hook-y bass riff. I can’t get enough of it. 11:Who would you most like to collaborate with artistically? I would love to collaborate with either The Last Dinner Party, as I feel like they encapsulate maximalist timeless rock in the most perfect sense. 12:What was your worst performance? In one of my early performances headlined this sell out show at this proper DIY venue up north and ended up playing on a house drum kit that completely fell apart live on stage (which definitely caught us off guard) and I also ended up losing my voice as the set went on aha.. in the end they ended up asking us to come back to do a second
set though because everybody wanted more! So though highly chaotic, still very much a win- was a funny night.
13: What was the most difficult obstacle you have ever faced and how did you overcome it? Musically, I would say one of the most challenging things I’ve done so far is completely independently plan, fund, book and promote my own national tour, which I did earlier this year. The tour was amazing and an undoubtedly incredible experience that I will remember forever- but being an independent artist definitely requires you to be
a jack of all trades and sometimes that can most definitely feel overwhelming.
I learnt a lot from doing that tour and I would say my number one takeaways would be just do your research, and try to think about tasks one at a time rather than
feeling swamped by the big picture!
14: What is your creative process when making music. Do you work with others or is there just you?
My songs always start with me playing my guitar alone in my bedroom, I write the core of the song on guitar and figure out lyrics to go along with it. After that I often take
it to my guitarist- Adam Sams- or also my full live band, to help transition it from a more intimate acoustic piece to its full final form in a live band setting.
15: Where do you see your musical career in 10 years? In the next ten years I see myself touring abroad more frequently with my amazing live band, with an even bigger close-nit fan base..who may be ready for
album no.2- which will undoubtedly be even bigger an
