INTERVIEW : 2009-01-15 Joseph Arthur gets his house in order (by Lorraine Carpenter)

by LORRAINE CARPENTER

“I love the city, so I’m always happy to come up there,” says Joseph Arthur, about his ubiquitous presence in la belle province. “Although it’s probably full of snow, isn’t it?”

The sidewalks are clear in Manhattan, where the singer-songwriter and visual artist has recently relocated from Brooklyn, following the closure of his art space, the MOMAR. Arthur is touring with a four-piece rock band, the Lonely Astronauts, in support of their recent album, Temporary People. The tour includes three Quebec dates, more than your average anglo band, and although his frequent visits are largely due to his manager being based in Montreal, Arthur has earned a Québécois audience that follows his every move.

Mirror: So you released a string of solo EPs last year, then the album with the band. What’s in store after this tour?

Joseph Arthur: At the moment, I’m just working on one solo record and trying to simplify everything. That’s the way a lot of this stuff always has worked for me, reacting off of old philosophies or reacting against what you just did to inspire a new direction.

M: Are you still painting?

JA: I just moved out of my gallery and now I’m living in a little apartment so that too is changing shape. I’ve just built a studio in the apartment, so I’ve been really concentrating on music lately but I have ideas about which way I wanna go in art. Given my new surroundings, I have to make everything smaller—I’m looking forward to that too.

M: Do you think the MOMAR will ever reopen?

JA: I feel like that was part of a pattern of places I’ve had that have gotten more and more crazy and out of control. But maybe. Certain things would have to change. The economy would have to lighten up, and I don’t know when that will ever happen.

M: I notice that you’ve done a lot of work with charities and been involved in socially conscious projects.

JA: I don’t really seek it out, but I usually feel enthusiastic if somebody asks me to be involved in something. Most people would react that way. But it’s something that’s a bit awkward to talk about in an interview because it could easily come off as self-promotion.

M: I’m interested in your trip to Northern Uganda, where a group of people were given art supplies for the first time. What kind of work did they create? Was it generally reflective of their situation?

JA: Their problems were reflected in the work, that’s what they immediately started painting. It was just amazing to be there, to be a part of it. It was so intense, it goes beyond anything I could say.

M: You’ve written the occasional political song, like “Rages of Babylon,” but if you lived in a place afflicted by poverty or war, do you think that would be your primary lyrical influence?

JA: If I was in a war zone, I’d be personalizing it. But because that’s not my existence, for me to write politically, it has to be an intellectual exercise and I don’t really write that way. But sometimes I make the effort to, when it seems appropriate.

WITH JASON BAJADA AT CLUB SODA

TONIGHT, THURSDAY, JAN. 15, 7:30 P.M.,

$23, $18.25 FOR STUDENTS, ALL AGES

Source