Arkells Foster a Sense of Unity
On Between Us, the Can-rock outfit find and fill the space that matters the most.
By Sydney Eliot
- Published on
While 2023’s Laundry Pile was stripped-down and wistfully romantic, their latest 11-track offering leans into the simple thrill of spending a sunny day with the people closest to you.
From the happy horns and rolling drums on songs like “Money” feat. Portugal. The Man, to the dreamy strings and feel-good imagery on “Imagine Barcelona,” Between Us feels like an album that deserves to be played loud on a speaker with friends.
Frontman Max Kerman describes the process of making it as reminiscent of how the band approached their earlier records, when collaboration was less complicated and everything happened in the same room. Speaking to RANGE, he recalls how making music as a band was difficult during the pandemic, when restrictions made everything uncertain.
“When I look back on records like Blink Once and Blink Twice, there was still a lot of concern about, can we even play in a room together? Can we even go on tour after the records are done?” he explains. “There’s a lot of starting and stopping in making those records.”
Kerman and his bandmates have been playing together since they first met in their hometown of Hamilton, Ont., in the mid-2000s. Since then, the group has cemented itself as a mainstay in the Canadian music scene and currently holds the record for the most JUNO wins for Group of the Year.
The clarity in their sound and the confidence to try new things has been shaped by years of touring and a steadily growing catalogue of songs.
As their tenth full-length album, Between Us is the product of a band that’s intentional, prepared, and doing what it does best. Playing as a cohesive unit. They worked closely with Grammy Award-winning producer John Congleton, who Kerman says the band learned a lot from.
“Because he has decades of experience, he’s a really instinctive, creative person and nothing felt overly belaboured,” he says. “It was all sort of in the moment—what feels right, and if it doesn’t feel right, we’re going to move along to something that does.”
The album is about real-life connection and the kinetic energy that comes from a crowded room or a busy downtown street.
To visually capture that feeling, the band worked with photographer Pelle Casse to shoot the album cover in Hamilton’s Jackson Square. The cover features multiple versions of the band layered on top of each other, giving the illusion of a busy rooftop scene.
For the image to have so much dimension, Casse set up a tripod and let the camera capture the movement, Kerman explains.
“He just collects thousands of images of everything that’s in the frame and then he pieces it together.”
Kerman says the cover reflects the album’s central idea: the magic of togetherness.
“Hopefully when people look at the record they get that incredible feeling of being in a busy park on a summer day.”
“There’s something so beautiful to me about being in a public park, that every kind of life can exist there,” he adds. “Every kind of life can experience the sun and the green grass and the air and the sound of kids in the playground… it’s a place that’s meant for everybody, and the record speaks to that in a really direct way.”
Over the years, the Arkells have fostered a strong connection with their audience through their live shows. Every time the band performs, they understand that the room operates as a sanctuary for a lot of people.
“I think one of the great things about going to a concert is that you get people of all stripes that are showing up and want to feel connected and want to feel alive,” Kerman says.
“When you’re in a room with someone else you remember every person has had a day of their own and there were probably highs and lows and everything in between.”
That awareness of a crowd’s breadth of experience inspired the concept for the band’s ‘city takeover’ shows on their upcoming North American Between Us tour. In different Canadian cities, the group will play three back-to-back dates at progressively bigger venues.
“I realized, you know, our catalogue is growing and it’s sometimes really hard to play a whole new record when you have all these other songs that your fans are also excited to hear,” Kerman explains.
“So we thought to ourselves, what if we go back and we play a bunch of smaller venues and play the new album, but because we’re there for three nights we’re having the chance to play all of our songs.”
A foolproof plan, he says, and one that is sure to please longtime and fair-weather fans alike.
The Arkells’ dedication to their music and to creating these experiences stems from a genuine love of the work itself.
That continuous enthusiasm is what Kerman believes has allowed the band to evolve while maintaining a close relationship with their audience.
“If you look at some of the great artists, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon; they’re there because they put everything they have into not only their songs and performances but the way they want to connect to their audience,” he shares.
“I think with this album and the tour that’s going to follow, it’s a chance to remind ourselves of the good stuff that’s out there—and why we keep coming back to it.”
By Glenn Alderson
The Toronto psych-noise outfit’s icy new visual sees our May digital cover star creeping and crawling through a darkly surreal version of the city
By Sydney Eliot
RANGE ventures into the spotlight shining on the next generation of female pop music.
By Khagan Aslanov
On Vancouver Island, the Wolf Parade songwriter is making peace with time, family, and the long shadow of indie rock history.
By Glenn Alderson
The Toronto-born LA-based artist explores the tension between romance and emotional captivity inside a seductive, Lynchian haze.
By Samuel Albert
On her new EP The Lone Starlet, the Texas-born pop ingénue reimagines the American dream through cinematic, Hollywood melodrama.
By Johnny Papan
The punk rock stalwarts find meaning in friendship, survival, and the weight of everything around them on Cold World.
By Cam Delisle
The French electro-pop chanteuse on childhood, horror, and her whimsical new EP the plushies.
By Kenna Clifford
The Montreal electronic duo turn nervous breakdowns, Tumblr-sleaze, and queer romance into shimmering avant-pop.
By Emily Kristensen and Gökçe On
From flash tattoos and emotional fan confessions to an unforgettable onstage moment, the UK rocker's Toronto stop felt unusually personal.
By Cam Delisle
On set for her latest single “asleep with the fishes,” the fast-rising Vancouver artist maps her city’s evolving soundscape and the EP blooming out of it.
