Arden (19-year-old Elliott Meldrum), a rising singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, released his fifth single “Silence” on August 19th. The lyrics “While the Silence is complicated, Take a breath and know we’ll survive” are sung over melancholy strings and a contrasting, almost tribal groove. As the fifth installment of a 10-part release (other songs include BBC Introducing Track(s) of The Day “Warring Kingdoms” and “Where I’ve Been”), Arden sings heartfelt lyrics over ballad-like and emotive piano, constructing a crisp, punchy anti-drop for the first chorus. His music is a refreshing blend of pop, hip-hop, electronic, and film score, held together by the genuine and moving messages of a typical adolescent attempting to make sense of the world. Elliott Meldrum wrote, produced, and mixed “Silence,” while Michael Hoelters was responsible for the final mastering. The song is currently accessible on all platforms. Check out the song and the exclusive interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?
ARDEN: Hi, my name is Elliott, I live just outside Crawley and I’ve been working under ‘Arden’ for around 2 years now. I started off just experimenting with producing music after being captivated by electronic and pop music at around 16/17 years old.
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
ARDEN: I took piano lessons as a kid hahah and got up to around grade 6 I think had a couple singing lessons too, but that was a very long time ago – I’d say i’m pretty much completely self taught for guitar, and producing.
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘ARDEN’?
ARDEN: My biggest influences for the music I make have definitely got to be Owl City, Jon Bellion and John Powell. However, as a kid before my producing came along I was hugely into singer songwriters like Sheeran, James bay, John Mayer etc!
The name “Arden’ came about a couple years ago, because everyone spells my name “Elliott Meldrum” wrong which became a bit of a problem for people trying to find my music! – I really like Arden, its got a sort of Celtic or fantastical feel about it which pairs with my music pretty well I think.
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
ARDEN: I’d say that in general I make happy music with sad lyrics, or on a deeper level maybe melancholic or bittersweet lyrics for the most part, paired with more hopeful and uplifting music. If you strip down my songs to their core they can mostly be played as Ballads. I love the beat-making aspect of my songs, I think the grooves and pockets are something people can really get into and vibe with. To sum up my music in a few phrases I’d say – Pocketed drum grooves, Melancholic Keys, Soaring string sections, Video game inspired, Relatable messages.
ARDEN:
I definitely had (and still have) a huge learning curve… Producing and mixing everything myself adds a massive new layer of learning, practise and time spent figuring out how to make things sound good. I feel like only now am I getting to a point where I can focus more on the actual music creation – now that I have the knowledge to just get things done and sounding good without too much stress. The more I do it the more fun I can have with it.
6. Do you think is it important for fans of your music to understand the real story and message driving each of your songs, or do you think everyone should be free to interpret your songs in their own personal way?
ARDEN:
I think its definitely a great thing to hear first hand what a story is about – I feel like that allows for a bit more of a connection between the artist and listener, but to be honest I don’t know the true meaning of many of my favourite songs – sometimes I think your own personal interpretation deserves to be unscathed so its nice to never really find out.
7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
ARDEN:
The past two years of getting to where I am now were definitely very difficult. I was doing an insane amount of work (talking 10+ hours a day), with no reward other than the music itself to show for it as I had no audience. Now with releases I do have an (albeit very small) amount of people who regularly check them out and show their support which is definitely super rewarding.
8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
ARDEN:
I’d say over half the time my songs start with a drumbeat, I think it helps so much to frame the song with a beat, It puts me in a good mood to vibe to it and sets up my mind properly to come up with some energetic melodies, sometimes starting on a piano just naturally makes for slow songs.
9. Creative work in a studio environment, or interaction with a live audience? Which of these two options excites you most, and why?
ARDEN: Ohhh I honestly couldn’t decide, When you’re in the zone in the studio and things are just flowing and working, it’s tough to beat that feeling… butttt the same could easily be said for the atmosphere of an engaged audience. I’ve only really done acoustic shows so far but I’m currently workshopping a proper ‘Arden’ Live show which should be taking to stage sometime in the next couple months which I’m beyond excited for. I think this music is going to go down really well in a live environment – and it’s gonna be a super fun show!
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