Arthur Ahbez has just released his first album Gold. In his own words, he’s been “lost in the 1960s for nearly 10 years” and it shows on a record that shows a deep love for Neil Young, The Grateful Dead, Dylan and the Velvet Underground. All Things Musical sat down one Wednesday lunchtime to do a gmail chat with him about recording Gold, his creative journey over the past couple of years and finding an eight track tape machine in an opshop.
Tell me about recording Gold and the how/what/why/when of it…
The best way to describe it is a window into the way I hear music and relate to it. And "see" it. I worked on the record for about 2 and a 1/2 years, piecing it together in my room on a 8 track tape deck I found out hunting for vintage garments… It was an amazing find, hidden under a pile of old flannel shirts. As soon as I saw it I knew it was what I needed and thus began the start of my record. The songs I decided to put on the record mean a lot to me. I've called the record Gold because that's in part what I feel subjectively it is. I'd play the songs over and over again on my guitar and on the recording as I wanted to be sure they weren't something temporal. I wanted to be sure they really meant something to me. Plus like any artist I’m extremely self-critical of my work - although I've loosed up a bit now. But being the first recorded output I've done publicly I wanted to make sure I could still enjoy it 10 years from now and have the record age into a timelessness. I'd have a lot of fun recording it, but at times it was a nightmare as I had no one to really feed back off and I had to learn as I went… how to record, how to mix, layer etc. Anyway - now that I've finished I want to keep going. I can't wait to do another record as I have all this material that I couldn't get right on the first record due to inexperience. This album was kind of the first step/leap of faith etc into becoming an artist even though I've played live music for years… I wasn't sure how people would react to my songwriting and ideas as I've been lost in the 1960s for nearly 10 years. But I’m really happy with the way it turned out, and most importantly I can hear all my influences in the songs. And hopefully other people will too. One thing to note, I'm really obsessed with folk songwriting. Not as traditional as Woody Guthrie, more like his contemporaries (though I dig Guthrie)… so with my first (and hopefully not last) record I always wanted to make it folk in heart and nature, and most of the songs bear that stamp.
