10/2/2017 Arcane Roots: Unlearning Muscle Memory On 'Melancholia Hymns' - Stereoboard News & Reviews Blog Venues Tickets Merchandise search for events, tickets, news, cit Search search for events, tickets, news, city, venue... Search Home News & Reviews Blog Tours & Tickets Theatre & Attractions Venues Gig Finder Merchandise Contact Us Music News Theatre - Special Tour News Offers Festival News Music Videos Motown The Competitions Musical School Of Rock Wicked Music Reviews The Book Of Live Reviews Mormon Matilda Photo Reviews The Musical The Features Lion King Annie Interviews 42nd Street Tickets and Tour Dates Latest Tour Announcements Ticket Deals (Below Face Value) London West End Theatre Tickets Popular Tours/Events Today Liam Gallagher Tickets Ed Sheeran Tickets Dua Lipa Tickets Runrig Tickets London Grammar Tickets Queen And Adam Lambert Tickets Tears For Fears Tickets Shania Twain Tickets Mamma Mia Evita Kinky Boots Thriller Live Pink Floyd Exhibition Beautiful The Carole King Musical An American In Paris Les Miserables Official Band Merchandise About Us Home News & Reviews Arcane Roots: Unlearning Muscle Memory On 'Melancholia Hymns' Arcane Roots: Unlearning Muscle Memory Arcane Roots Tour Dates On 'Melancholia Hymns' 16 upcoming shows OCT London Scala 3 05 Tickets available from £15.00 Thursday, 21 September 2017 Written by Jonathan Rimmer OCT Wolverhampton Slade Rooms 06 Tickets available from £13.00 OCT Manchester Academy 3 07 Tickets available from £13.00 OCT Glasgow King Tuts Wah Wah 08 Hut Tickets available from £13.00 OCT Belfast Empire Music Hall 09 Tickets available from £13.50 OCT Liverpool Arts Club, Loft 13 Tickets available from £13.00 OCT Brighton Haunt https://www.stereoboard.com/content/view/210993/9 1/6 10/2/2017 Arcane Roots: Unlearning Muscle Memory On 'Melancholia Hymns' - Stereoboard 14 Tickets available from £13.00 OCT Bristol THE FLEECE 15 Tickets available from £13.00 Click here to see all upcoming shows for Arcane Roots ADVERTISEMENT Stereoboard Liked 71k likes Arcane Roots are survivors. That might seem like a big statement when you consider the long line of UK bands who have been beset by label troubles, the loss of key members and relentless touring with little reward. But the Kingston trio’s own story is more winding than most. Stereoboard Their new LP, ‘Melancholia Hymns’ is only their second in a google.com/+stereoboard decade together, but they have been described by the mainstream press as one of the best British bands on the Follow circuit. So where’s the hype coming from? Tour of the Week Arcane Roots first formed during a period when the alt-rock scenes in the UK and Ireland were brimming with talent: Muse and Biffy Clyro were at their peak and Oceansize and Reuben still had serious underground clout. Labels like Alcopop! and the Richter Collective were set up to release records by a wave of bands that sought to follow in their footsteps. “All we wanted back then was to sign to one of these alternative labels,” frontman Andrew Groves says. “It was the catalyst for us moving to Kingston Upon Thames. Looking back, there’s a habit to romanticise that period. Some of those bands really stay with you. I wouldn’t say ‘rock is dead’, but I do think a lot of it is to do with being in the right place NOEL GALLAGHER at the right time.” Noel Gallagher will tour the UK in April. The scene struggled to survive the industry’s wholesale shift Tickets are on sale now, prices start between to digital platforms and the rise of landfill indie. Bands and £35.00 and £49.50 plus fees. labels duly disbanded. But Arcane Roots’ unique style - a sophisticated amalgam of post-hardcore and technical hard rock Compare & Buy Noel Gallagher Tickets Now! - meant they kept on growing. Support slots with Muse, Biffy Competitions and Twin Atlantic not only served as mainstream exposure but Latest Music & Tour News also as an education in how to refine their craft. Holiday Oscar Sets Up February London Show Arcane Roots - Off The Floor The Rural Alberta Advantage Share New Single Toughen Up Michael Monroe Confirms December Birmingham Show Bon Iver Confirm Fifth Eventim Apollo Show Self Esteem Shares New Track OMG My Name Is Prince Exhibition Extended To January https://www.stereoboard.com/content/view/210993/9 2/6 10/2/2017 Arcane Roots: Unlearning Muscle Memory On 'Melancholia Hymns' - Stereoboard “What we took away from those shows was how hard they worked,” Groves says. “The sheer athleticism of their performances really struck us. There are all these strange notions of being ‘rock n’ roll’ and how you should behave, but we learned the value of putting on the best thing no matter what, whether Cradle Of Filth Announce May Australian Dates it’s an album or a show. The Fratellis Confirm March Tour, “We’ve now passed 10 years of being a band and I think a big Announce New Album 'In Your Own period of re-evaluation was involved. Did we just want to be a Sweet Time' stadium rock band and go for magazine covers or was there more to what we can do? We had close to 250 demos after our first Anne-Marie Announces UK And Ireland Dates As Part Of European album. We decided to scrap them and start again. We decided to Tour follow the rabbit down the hole and see where it led.” The Sherlocks Confirm February UK The rabbit hole led to ‘Melancholia Hymns’, a record that Tour Groves says is the most progressive they’ve produced. The anthemic hooks and complex guitar lines are still there, but Trending Content they also make use of keys, electronics and ambient sections Starsailor - All This Life (Album to articulate their substantial conceptual goals. Review) 1 Comments Allusions to progressive rock might make Arcane Roots sound Paloma Faith Tickets For Spring Arena like perfectionists – and to be fair, Groves admits “a quick Tour On Sale 9am Today Arcane Roots record is cursed” – but they’re certainly not 0 Comments writing about dungeons and dragons. If anything, Groves believes the band took a more delicate approach to songwriting Bonobo Adds Second London Show this time around. 0 Comments “I think at heart we’ve always been a fairly proggy band,” he Roger Waters Announces Us + Them says. “By definition, our song structures are ever increasing UK Tour Including British Summer and less linear. But when you use that word it’s hard not Time Hyde Park Date think of the ‘70s. I’d say there was more of a soundtrack 0 Comments element to this album. We backed away from having to always Faith Hill and Tim McGraw To use the space – we turned off the pedals sometimes. Headline Country 2 Country 0 Comments “Writing outside the box like that is like unlearning a muscle Interviews & Features memory or forming an entirely new vocabulary. When we finished the record we felt like we’d only just started. This feels This Is The World I Brought You Into: like our first album in French where we only just got fluent Propagandhi Talk 'Victory Lap' by the last song. That’s both exciting and annoying, but we’re determined to break the spell and be quicker from now on.” Past Lives, Future Me: Worriers' Lauren Denitzio On 'Survival Pop' Arcane Roots - Indigo (Ocial Audio) Frank Iero: Good Things Come To Those With Patience Music Reviews Mastodon - Cold Dark Place (Album Review) Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger In The Alps (Album Review) Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun (Album Review) One area that has markedly changed this time around is Groves’ vocals. Much like Muse’s Matt Bellamy, one of his chief influences, he began as a reluctant frontman but later developed a reputation for his distinctly melodramatic style. ‘Melancholia Hymns’ sees him playing with deeper and softer tones for the first time. “I’ve always taken my voice for granted,” he says. “I’m precious about looking after it as we’ve learned from touring how easily it gets damaged. But this time around, so many parts of songs were made in different ways and had me hunched over a piano or sitting in the studio surrounded by lovely synths and sounds. Songs fell into the area where my patented chest voice and singing loud and high wasn’t applicable. https://www.stereoboard.com/content/view/210993/9 3/6 10/2/2017 Arcane Roots: Unlearning Muscle Memory On 'Melancholia Hymns' - Stereoboard “Going into the studio I was quick to undo anything that was a ‘go to’. Songs on the album like Indigo, Arp and Fireflies – I hadn’t really sung like that before. So vocals are something I still worry about a little bit and it took a long time. It’s like giving a right handed person a pen to write with their left hand. The shape is just different.” Despite the many delays and mini hurdles, Arcane Roots appear to be pressing the right buttons. Upon release, ‘Melancholia Hymns’ is on course to land in the upper reaches of the UK album chart and it’s testament to the fact that patience and pedantry aren’t necessarily bad qualities to possess in this day and age. “We are always self deprecating in our acknowledgement of it,” Groves says. “We never think anybody’s going to come to our shows. During periods of quiet it’s easy to think: ‘Is that it? Have we peaked? Do people not care anymore?’ But we’ve tried our best to be honest with output and I hope that comes across. We never want to be a tribute act to ourselves.” ‘Melancholia Hymns’ is out now through Easy Life.