Image Credit: Photo of Arthur Newman.

Producer, songwriter and lecturer Arthur Newman releases his new single ‘In Your City’ – a vivid, one-take recording that captures the immediacy and emotion of London life. The accompanying Super 8 music film, directed by Zeta Gkoka and choreographed by Chiara Martina Halter, mirrors the track’s sense of freedom and movement, blending analogue textures with human energy. Collaboration sits at the heart of Arthur’s work – whether composing with his sister under Lily Brings the Weather or producing with emerging collectives, he believes “collaboration brings the city of London to life.”

His creative path, shaped by an early fascination with storytelling and an enduring love of analogue sound, runs from home-studio experiments to teaching at IMW Music Production School. Ever curious and hopeful, Arthur continues to find inspiration in the city’s pulse, turning its rhythms into songs that celebrate imagination, connection and the beauty of imperfection.

What first planted the seed of “this is what I want to do”? Can you trace that early moment – or feeling – when music went from being something you loved to something you had to make?

My desire to make music and be creative came from my ability as a child to make up stories. I would spend hours creating fictitious and epic sports contests as a football and cricket fan and (as a big Thomas the Tank Engine fan) I would create epic tales involving my train set. My obsessions with sports and trains subsided and music took its place when I started electric guitar lessons at school. It was the first time I was able to just be creatively free, free from grades and exams and the pressures of school.

I remember travelling on long bus rides when I was 18 and I would create epic 20 minute solos in my mind. It seemed a shame that only I could listen to the music I was making. I thought it my job to try and put my imagination to life.

Image Credit: On set for the filming of ‘In Your City’. Photo of film director Zeta Gkoka and Choreographer and Dancer Chiara Martina Halter.

You’ve spoken about making music with your sister under Lily Brings the Weather, even having a track featured at Reading Festival. How did that creative partnership come about, and what does working with family bring to your process – both the harmony and the chaos?

Working with someone close to you is liberating as you can be more honest and not worry about offending them with your feedback. Lily is also a dreamer and a really good singer with a pure voice and we began writing on Garageband when I was 17.

Our collaborations also go way back. When we went on walks as children we would do this mouth drum clicking collaboration for hours, a form of naive beat boxing. The Lily Brings the Weather collaboration came about over lockdown, with time and energy to spare, we just put all our focus into creating an album. We set up a basic home studio and just went for it.

Image Credit: On set for the filming of ‘In Your City’. Photo of musician, performer, Arthur Newman.

Your work often blurs sound, film, and photography – from the Super 8 video for your new single to your use of double-exposed imagery for the EP artwork. What draws you to analogue film and these tactile visual methods, and how do they complement your approach to music-making?

Through my course at IMW Music Production School one of the main points of learning was how natural analogue is in comparison to digital recording. Analogue gets its name as the medium is analogous to how we as humans hear and see. Our ears are like vinyl players, our eardrums the vinyl record, and the three tiny bones, the stylus. We convert sound energy into electrical energy just like microphones. Digital is a purely virtual realm, a copy of analogue, a very good one nowadays. This principle also applies to photographic film as well, analogue film is analogous to how we actually see.

So what this means and what I feel when I use analogue mediums is a much more effortless and healthy process; I don’t find I need to tamper with the film, or edit the microphone recording I take too much, they have this natural quality to them that makes the creative process much healthier and fun. With Super8 as well, filming makes the process more about the live, in-the-moment performance and less about the wizardry and technicalities of post-production processes. In essence, I find analogue more intuitive and less technical.

Film credit: ‘In Your City’, written and sung by Arthur Newman. Directed by Zeta Gkoka, Choreography and Dancing by Chiara Martina Halter.

Tell us about the new EP. What stories or moods thread through it? You’ve mentioned that the first track was improvised live and another inspired by Nicolas Jaar – how did those experiments shape the overall tone of the record?

The record centres upon the rhythmic elements which I learnt through Jordan Rakei’s ‘Songs From Nothing’ video series on Youtube. I copied his exact process for creating drums, splicing up Apple Loops and built arrangements from these grooves.

For ‘In Your City’, the whole vocal track and lyrics were improvised in one take, looking out from my studio with the Barbican and the urban skyline in view. After reading Mark Hollis’ autobiography from Talk Talk, a big inspiration of mine (especially the last two albums) Hollis mentioned how it is often impossible to do better than the original vocal demo. I also find that when I create, imagining the creation as a demo often helps to take the pressure off and is often the best you are going to do. I hope that purity in the record comes through. I also have an upright muted piano which I used for solo parts, giving a kind of Moby atmosphere.

For the track ‘Loco’, I often give my demo’s stupid names when I first export them, and this one was called ‘Loco Crazy‘ as I just went full out weird. I am a big fan of Against All Logic, especially the track ‘I Never Dream’ which has this kind of energy. I also stretched samples and looped them around with all sorts of production fun with effects as well.

Image Credit: Album artwork

You’ve worked closely with filmmaker Zeta Gkoko and dancer/choreographer Chiara Martina Halter on the Super 8 film accompanying your single. What inspired that collaboration, and how does movement – and the act of watching someone move – feed back into your sense of rhythm and emotion in sound?

Zeta and I sing from the same hymn sheet, we work really well together and get on really well as friends. I trust her completely on her creative vision.

I wanted dance to feature as the track has this very powerful rhythm section that I found myself dancing to as I produced it. I am a terrible dancer but I love it, I feel this sense of release and I always think of dance as a sense of real freedom. Seeing Chiara dance so beautifully to the music just helps to give that sense of freedom the track is trying to evoke, freedom from the constraints of being an adult, in much the same way the sky is a symbol of freedom in the song.

Joe Gilder, a Youtube music production educator, said that the most important element when producing music is listening to your body. Music making is not a rational process but an emotional one expressed through dancing or other bodily responses. This piece of advice I have to be careful not to forget and why I think dance is so important to the track.

Looking at your work, your portfolio spans short films, visual pieces and sound design. How does your experience in film and composition inform your songwriting? Do you think in images when you’re composing?

I find writing to picture really enjoyable as I find I would not be able to create a piece like it without that particular visual reference. I find the process like having synesthesia, music becomes a channel for a different sense.

I also find working with film a much more abstract process which suits my experimental style; the music’s structure works for the purposes of the visuals, not for itself. I don’t compose visually, although often I find galleries a very inspirational space, walking around I usually start imagining ideas for songs.

Image Credit: Still image from the music video ‘In Your City’.

You lecture at IMW and are deeply embedded in the capital’s creative fabric. Which three London spaces, collectives or communities are giving you energy right now – the ones you’d tell our readers to check out if they want to feel what’s really happening?

I would definitely check out Raven Row Gallery, all their exhibitions are free and they often have really fantastic shows on, such as the recent Peter Hujar show.

I would also recommend getting copies of The Toe Rag newspaper, a recent publication which is a great source of knowledge and community for London’s creative scene.

I am also getting a lot of positive energy from my collaborations with Starlight Collective, a musical collective who I produced at IMW. Try and collaborate with a band, it is fun.

You sign off your Spotify bio with “Here for a good time during our 4000 weeks together.” It’s a line that feels both existential and hopeful. What’s giving you hope right now – in music, in London, or in life?

Over the past year I have focused on finding and collaborating with other artists and this gives me so much hope for the future. I find collaboration brings the city of London to life.

Find Arthur at arthurnewman.co.uk and on Instagram @arthur___newman

Arthur Newman: ‘In Your City’
Single – out now
Available at spotify.com