INTERVIEW : 2000-05-10 Painting with lyrics, RealWorld musician gives art the exposure (by Sean Smith)

Peter Gabriel's Real World label can be given credit for exposing some of the most intense and spiritual musicians in the world to a larger population than probably would have been possible by their own means.

While unleashing such vital artists as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Papa Wemba to the world has been a godsend, Gabriel seemed to have overlooked North American talent ­ which makes one question whether we actually live in the real world. When Gabriel released Big City Secrets in 1997 ­ the debut album by Akron, Ohio's Joseph Arthur, audiences confronted the reality that Gabriel was simply waiting for the right artist to come along who would be able to encapsulate the shiftiness and the urban anxieties of Arthur's home New York City, arguably the heart of North America.

"He's the kind of guy you want to show you the way and he does," comments Arthur on his relationship with Gabriel. "He advises me all the time. He hears all the things I do, breaks it down, writes lists and stuff. He's a huge support. He took me in at a stage when I still had a lot of developing to do. Not that I don't now."

Arthur is pleased to be a part of Gabriel's record label which has the reputation of producing and releasing a distinguished and crowd pleasing lineup of musicians.

"I'm glad to be involved with Real World and be involved in that karma," says Arthur.

"There's fantastic music to be discovered on the label. When I was first in contact with Peter, I got to play WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) and take part in Real World recording week. It was just outrageous. From that point on I decided that I was in a different world. Nothing surprised me anymore."

With the recent release of Arthur's second full length album Come to Where I'm From, there have been a few adjustments he has had to make despite claiming to be free of surprises.

"In New York, I kind of isolated myself," says Arthur. "I liked living in this shell. Then all of sudden, I move to L.A. and (the media hype) all starts. I was in this hotel with this huge mirror in front of the bed that basically covered the whole wall and I just got stuck with my face ­ not just my image but my whole body. I went through this weird transition. I cut my hair and got into this obsession with it. When I was a kid I always felt uncomfortable with how I looked and it all came back. I thought it was self-hatred but I was just getting acclimated to this. I am getting this public skin on and it's painful, but there's always pain when you grow."

Arthur's relocation forced him to confront issues he didn't intend to confront.

"Writing music and singing songs is one thing," continues Arthur, "but when I went to L.A. to shoot a video it made me realize how much (of the music business) depends on how you look. That's a focus I wasn't prepared for."

While music now appears to be a full-time job for Arthur, he balances his song writing with an appreciation of all the arts. Arthur himself is a skilled painter who uses the packaging of his CDs as a canvas, an endeavour which earned him a Grammy nomination in 1998 for his EP Vacancy.

"I've never considered doing art for a living," says Arthur. "I just don't think I have ever produced anything that I am that satisfied or comfortable with. Packaging is a place I feel comfortable displaying on. It's such a wasted space to an extreme amount otherwise.

There's so many interesting things you could do with it and you don't have to do it yourself, but that's a Peter Gabriel philosophy really. That's why no writing goes on the cases [of Real World releases]. He sees it as a place to display art."

Arthur's stripped down, bare bones painting provides a perfect companion to his music. His images are raw, unrefined yet razor sharp. His brush strokes are done with the inexactitude and honesty of a child and one is reminded of Jean-Michel Basquiat upon seeing Arthur's scrawling.

"It goes a little outside of him, but Basquiat is definitely an influence," clarifies Arthur. "I was doing this crazy shit for a long time before I saw him, but where he influenced me is in making me realize that stuff like his could get into museums. I was just having fun with paint when a friend of mine took me to a museum to see a show of his. I'd never seen anything as alive as that. I didn't realize that this was something you could pursue."

Joseph Arthur's live shows are also a thing of awe. He has found kinship in a machine called the Jam Man, that he uses to sample himself on stage. It's almost like painting with music. He lays all the colours and textures out at the beginning of each song and then uses his pedals to smear them all over the audience's psyche. While listening to Arthur strum his guitar and play his harmonica tends to sound a little like Bob Dylan, as he starts pushing the buttons and playing with delays, he transforms into Dylan Thomas raging against the dying of the light.

"It's similar to painting in a way," concedes Arthur. "It's an unconscious experience. It's not controlled. I have maps, and I know what I'm trying to do, but each show is different because it's done on the spot. I feed off the crowd too, and sometimes they're into it, and sometimes they're not. People like to compare live shows to recordings, but it's like comparing a play to a movie. A good play is going to be a deeper experience than any good movie but both can be moving. Seeing something happen in that moment will deliver invisible electricity."