Amber Arcades: "My favourite track on the EP is my duet with Bill Ryder-Jones"

Amber Arcades - aka Dutch-born musician Annelotte De Graaf - spills the beans on her new EP 'Cannonball', out this June. Recorded in New York, it sees her team up with Bill Ryder-Jones for a track ('Wouldn't Even Know'), and reflect on relationships of the past, providing a kick-off point for her upcoming full-length.

Hey Annelotte, how are you today?

I'm good! Just waiting around in the backstage in Vera (awesome legendary venue in Groningen, the Netherlands) till we can start sound checking… Tonight is the first show of our joint Dutch tour with Moss, should be fun!

You've a new EP due – what's ‘Cannonball' about?

It is a collection of songs that reflect on the nature of romantic relationships as I've experienced them over the last couple of years. The push and pull, growing away from and towards each other again at different times. The things I seek in them and project on them.

How did you decide what you wanted to include on the release?

I had a couple of new songs finished when we went on tour in the US last September. We ended up having some days off in New York so I thought it would be great timing to work with Ben Greenberg again in the studio. We basically recorded the songs I had finished at that moment, and I was kind of thinking to wait with releasing them, write some more songs and record them and then to make a full-length record out of it. But it turned out these songs matched up really well, and I felt like they were a complete unit already, both musically and lyrically. Plus I liked the idea of being able to start from scratch again for the full-length and to be able to explore some new themes in that again.

Is there anything about it that you're especially proud of or pleased with?

I think my personal favourite track of the EP is my duet with Bill Ryder-Jones. It had been fermenting in my brain already for quite some time. I had the idea for the chorus of it first, and I thought it would become like an upbeat funky indie tune. But then one time biking to the supermarket I had this idea for a verse to go with it which was kinda brooding, Yo La Tengo-esque, which fit beautifully. I love Bill's voice on it, too.

What's your favourite lyric on the EP?

"I know it feels like most of the time I'm running wild, but I don't close my eyes, I've never let you out of my sight." It reflects on my experience with touring so much over the last year and how to combine that with maintaining a relationship with my boyfriend.

What would you say are the EP's ideal listening conditions?

My favourite time to listen to music is while driving, and I always try to match the music to the landscape I'm driving through and the time of day. I'd say these songs are good for driving through an empty field at sundown.

What've you got planned for after the release?

We're doing a couple of cool festivals in June which I can't announce yet at this time of writing. I'm also very busy writing my next record which I hope to record this fall, so looking forward to some home time, jamming and writing over the summer months.

What are you most looking forward to during festival season?

Last year at some UK festivals there was this really great food truck which sells vegetarian sushi burritos. Like sushi rolls but not cut into pieces so you can just stuff the whole roll in your face. I urgently need to eat that again.

Taken from the June issue of Dork, out now. Amber Arcades' EP 'Cannonball' is out 2nd June.