North East artist, India Arkin, signed to HMV’s record label 1921 Records, heads to Sage Gateshead this month having released a number of revamped acoustic tracks. Lee Allcock caught up with India to talk about working with HMV, playing alongside Stormzy and more.
Why have you decided to make three acoustic versions of songs from your album, ‘Home Truths’?
Being an independent singer-song writer, at the core of the project, everything I release always begins with me writing on my acoustic guitar sitting on my bedroom floor. The songs I write are raw and personal, drawing commentary on life and humanness at the heart. I wanted to strip everything back and release intimate versions of the tracks to connect with my listeners in a deeper, rawer way, pulling back the full production and drawing it back to the songs in their most pure embodiment.
How did you choose which three to record?
Looking over the album, I decided to choose ‘Phototaxing’, ‘(I Want You) Near’ and ‘Things Left Behind’ for our acoustic live session release as all three songs were written with a strong theme of vulnerability throughout, both lyrically and instrumentally. I felt I wanted to put out songs that would wholly encapsulate honest emotion to create a sense of connection and intimacy with my listeners.
And your ‘Home Truths’ album was released in partnership with HMV. Tell me more…
Yes! Our first year in the project has been ridiculously crazy. I was chosen as HMV’s first-ever unsigned artist in 2022 and signed to their new label 1921 Records, giving me the opportunity to release my debut album ‘Home Truths’ with them for National Album Day and become an ambassador alongside the likes of Franz Ferdinand, KSI and Sam Ryder. It has been an amazing experience overall, working with everyone on the HMV team – with a particular shout out to the incredible David Athey, who is the head of music and technology at HMV, and has just been the beating heart of the entire project and supported me through the entire experience. It has truly been the most surreal experience of my life and things are only going to get bigger and bigger.
And tell me about your new track, ‘Rainy Day’…
‘Rainy Day’ is an intimate insight on turbulent relationships and self-love. I wrote this song a year ago, debuting the track at my weekly solo residency show in Newcastle that I had at the beginning of last year. I received so much of an emotionally pulling response from my audience at the live shows after playing it that I decided later to bring it to my guitarist Adam Sams to evolve it into the beautifully delicate lullaby that it is.
And finally, live, what has been your favourite gig to date and why?
I have had some absolutely insane gigs over the past year but I think one of my current favourites to date may just have to be playing at HMV Vault in Birmingham, which is the biggest vinyl store in Europe. It truly felt like an absolute honour to get the opportunity to play a show there as part of our HMV ‘Home Truths’ album release tour back in October 2022. It was beyond crazy to be playing the same stage as Louis Tomlinson, Stormzy, Ollie Murs and other huge house names. And on top of that, the team were so lovely and the reaction we got from that show was mental. But I also have some huge gigs coming up in 2023 including headlining our almost sold-out Sage Gateshead show on Thursday 30th March which I think is just going to be on another level.
Tickets for India’s Sage date are priced on a Pay What You Decide basis. For further information, head to sagegateshead.com.
