It’s nice to imagine what Moncton’s Short For Arthur might sound like at an honest-to-goodness, living, breathing music festival. The eclectic and electric brand of indie rock rubs up against the flanks of blues, jazz, electronic and, most importantly, psychedelic jams in a way that inspires all the high-energy head fuzz of a late-night dopamine binge. Their singles have consistently kicked over the can of absurdist nonsense to indulge in a playful form of art rock, but not without hiding some very poignant needles in their metaphorical haystack.
Their latest single, “Note to Self,” has those needles (not to mention the jams) in abundance; literally listing out for you some quality life lessons and accompanied by a tasty bassline.
In fact, it’s those little lyrical nuggets of wisdom and a bouncy groove that dominate this new single which is all for the best, should you find yourself in an emergency jam situation. It’s the CliffsNotes to getting by in the best of times and the worst times, but more likely the latter.
“Sometimes, life can seem like we’re walking through a dream, whether it be paradise or a nightmare,” says Short For Arthur’s key player, Jordan Best. “There comes a point where life becomes much easier when we keep it simple and stick to the notes repeated in the outro of the song.”
Those aforementioned life lessons/lyrics include:
“Take all the time,
Don’t rush,
Never give up,
Always play nice,
Wake up when the sun’s out,
Always think twice,
Share things with the ones you love”
And, conveniently, those sound like the sorts of things we’re used to finding written on posters and placards scattered around the grounds of a music festival, bringing the whole thing full circle. Short For Arthur has just done us the favour of putting them all to a mnemonic tune.