Joseph
Arthur
If
there’s such a thing as the opposite of writer’s block, Joseph Arthur has it. Indeed, the Akron, Ohio-bred / Brooklyn, New
York–residing singer-songwriter, who once released four EPs in the span
of as many months, was deep into work on two distinct albums when the music
that became The Graduation Ceremony
suddenly bubbled to the forefront.
Arthur had written a new song, “Out on a Limb,” on a friend’s guitar while in
Los Angeles. That song turned into 10 additional acoustic tracks, which were recorded spontaneously at Sheldon Gomberg’s
studio in one marathon session. “I’m always looking for creative outlets
when I’m in LA because LA scares me,” Arthur says, “and there’s great energy in
not being home. So I called Sheldon and
said I had some songs to record, and asked if he’d be up for it. He said,
‘Sure,’ and I said, ‘Well, I’m already outside. Can I come in?’ I went
through all these tracks—some old, some brand new ones that I hadn’t
recorded—on mostly first or second takes, and that was going to be a record.”
But Arthur began to feel that the sessions were “undercooked and
underproduced,” so he turned to legendary drummer Jim Keltner to give them an
extra kick. Keltner had played on Arthur’s 2000 breakthrough album Come To Where I’m From, and the pair had
re-connected while working on Fistful of
Mercy, the eponymous 2010 debut from Arthur’s band with Ben Harper and
Dhani Harrison.
To nudge the new material closer to completion, Arthur then teamed with
producer John Alagia, at whose Village studio Fistful of Mercy had played its
first public gig in 2010. Alagia had previously produced “You’re So True,”
Arthur’s 2004 contribution to the Shrek 2
soundtrack.
“I said to John, ‘Maybe you could mix this acoustic, Jim Keltner thing,’”
Arthur says. “I gave it to him in the state it was in, but he thought it wasn’t
quite where it should be. So, he came to my place in Brooklyn and I played him
all this different stuff I was doing. Then I went to his place in Santa Monica.
We didn’t know what we were doing. Suddenly there were 50 different tracks from
a bunch of different works-in-progress that were potentially going to be
deconstructed. But it wound up coming all the way back to just the Jim Keltner
stuff. It had a soul and a vibe. It was perfect. We could produce it up a
little bit. All it really took was adding a little production on the choruses
to make them pop out more.”
The finished product is one of Arthur’s most beautiful, understated pieces of
work in a two-decade career that includes seven prior studio albums and 11 EPs,
plus collaborations with Peter Gabriel and R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe. The material
is rife with Arthur’s trademark poetic lyrics, whether sketching a portrait of
his hometown (“Midwest”) or recounting a breakup in unflinching detail (“Gypsy
Faded”).
Arthur released The Graduation Ceremony
on his own Lonely Astronaut label. “This record is important for me right now.
I feel like on some level I’ve been in the penalty box,” he says with a
chuckle. “I don’t feel like the work I’ve put out warrants being in the penalty
box, but maybe the manner I put it out is why. Or maybe there is no penalty
box, or there is no me (laughs). Either way, it was important that I put out a
strong record, and I think this fits the bill.”
Growing up in the 1970s and ’80s in Akron, Arthur’s musical life started off
like many others—with mandatory piano lessons. But once he realized he could
use the piano to conjure up his own musical worlds, he took to the instrument
and began writing songs, eventually playing in bands while in high school. Days
after graduation, he moved to Atlanta with a band, playing bass and supporting
himself with day jobs at a music store and tattoo shop.
At the time, Arthur aspired to be a world-class jazz or fusion bass player in
the vein of the late Jaco Pastorius. But
when a demo tape of Arthur’s songs somehow made its way to Peter Gabriel
and his Real World Records label, “I came to find out that Peter thought the
bass playing was weak on my stuff, but what he liked was the lyrics.”
Next thing Arthur knew, he was playing at Gabriel’s WOMAD festival (despite having played solo acoustic “maybe one time
before”), jamming with Gabriel and Joe Strummer in Real World studios in
Bath, England, and was subsequently signed to Real World Records. “It was
crazy,” Arthur says. “I think I like repeating the story more the older I get.”
And while Arthur’s 1997 debut, Big City
Secrets, attracted a substantial following abroad, the artist didn’t
connect with stateside listeners until Come
To Where I’m From, which features his signature song, “In the Sun.” That
track was covered by R.E.M.’s Stipe and Coldplay’s Chris Martin in 2006 on a
charity single to benefit victims of
Hurricane Katrina, having previously been recorded a decade earlier by
Gabriel for a Princess Diana tribute album.