“ Given the entertainment industry which expects squareness as opposed to this intimate decision making process, going against the grain in this way can get exhausting.”

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I sit with Arthur Gillette of Moriarty on a cloudy afternoon, eager to listen as his stories unfold. Completed with recording his first solo album on the coast of Brittany, France, Arthur generously shares the history of Moriarty’s evolution since its beginnings in 1995. Interestingly enough, their story begins with longtime friends just out of high school jamming in the Parisian cellar of a deceased woman. The woman left an empty apartment behind for 15 years, liberating Moriarty’s sound into cellar space. There were no complaints until ownership changed over a decade later. In this sense, Moriarty’s formative years occurred by chance circumstance, encouraging the creation of a little world that “maybe wouldn’t have happened” without these conditions. Six French-American friends growing up in Paris became members of the creatively named band Moriarty. “Moriarty” echoes the truth of the band—it’s got character. Whether we think of the nemesis of Sherlock Holmes, or Jack Kerouac’s Dean Moriarty in On the Road, Moriarty has its own emergent personality. 

Moriarty’s first album released in 2007, Gee Whiz But This Is a Lonesome Town, compiled 8 years worth of songwriting. And so it began with “Jimmy,” a hit song originally written as a lighthearted joke, Arthur shares with me. Moriarty had started out as a cover band, playing blues and classic rock such as Brownie McGhee, Lead Belly, and Janis Joplin (to name a few). The initial lead singers quit early on, seeking a focus on success via adhering to professional musicianship. Creative post-jazz and post-punk chords which altered the sound of originals shaped the band’s sound. Moriarty’s long standing lead vocalist, Rosemary Standley, acted as a key turning point in the evolution of the band come 1999. Rosemary focused on telling a story authentically rather than trying to achieve musical perfection. Her beautifully expressive voice carried the first album into the world. Rosemary brought a “sensitivity” to the band that enabled personalized and original material which the band is known and loved for.

I often wonder about my favorite album, Fugitives, and how Moriarty decided on the diverse songs and composers within the genre of blues and folk. When asked about Fugitives, Arthur smiles and begins describing his detailed research and intimate connection to that twentieth century era of music. The album developed from a focus on Bob Dylan songs. The band, particularly Arthur, looked into the roots of Bob Dylan’s music. By reading Dylan’s 2004 memoir, Chronicles, in addition to listening to Theme Time Radio Hour, Arthur traced his musical inspirations to their source. He describes this experience as humbling, saying that after writing a lot of originals, it was nice to “go sideways and revisit the masters”. Many classic songs featured on Fugitives are not written by one person. This album weaves together the stories of many musicians. Speaking of stories, Arthur shares with me that “Girl from the North Country” was supposedly written about his mom in 1961, when Bob Dylan stole her big winter coat. Furthermore, he shares that the band carries a Martin guitar passed on by his godfather, once strummed by Joan Baez. The Martin guitar has become legend to Moriarty; an instrument that resonates and carries its own story through time. Just as there is folklore behind classic songs, the instruments themselves carry an aura, Arthur tells me.

Even as musical influences are key to Moriarty’s sound, they tend to create complexities. There is friendly competition in the band between tastes for 80’s British groups like Depeche Mode (see Moriarty’s “Enjoy the Silence” cover), vs. bluegrass and folk. Moriarty tends to oscillate between both preferences, and so their sound is based on this mix, going one way and then the other. Overall, band members have learned to expand and teach each other through this melding of sounds. One person could not possibly have enough ideas for songs given the breadth of Moriarty’s repertoire. 

When asked about leadership, Arthur explains to me that it varies over time, beckoning a question of energy. Each voice is considered, and this slows the process in terms of decision making. Songs get stalled if one member doesn’t approve of lyrics or musicianship. Many songs are put aside for this reason. The songwriting process is not always easy, and can take a long time, even resulting in reversals back to the first version of a song. The band improvises collectively, and then a set of lyrics is adapted by Rosemary. Given the entertainment industry which expects squareness as opposed to this intimate decision making process, going against the grain in this way can get exhausting. 

What helps to create the band’s amazing live sound? I ask.

Having the same sound engineer and technical collaborators for the full life of the band is crucial; “one who knows us perfectly well and how we interact.” Physical conditions like humidity and temperature for their acoustic sound also plays a role. And there are so many more factors. However, the truth is that live sound is primarily serendipitous and unpredictable, Arthur explains. For example, when there’s adversity from the external surroundings like a storm cutting out power to amps or the general sound setup at festivals. Or sliding on stage during a rainstorm in Japan. Another consideration is tiredness and jetlag, a major challenge of touring. Moriarty has a habit of playing in particular settings, like strange museums throughout Paris, a chapel built by the infamous Swiss architect Le Courbusier that induces amazing yet challenging reverb, or in front of a collapsing glacier rumbling in Mont Blanc France. Unorthodox settings, Arthur tells, makes the experience of playing and the audience more particular. In the setting of the melting glacier, he remembers their strength musically, but also their role as a timepiece within the context of global climate change.

Arthur leaves me with reflections on the “microscope” of studio time through his personal recording project as Mick Strauss, a “cousin” to Moriarty. A microscope in terms of attending to the subtleties of music, coupled with the pressure of suddenly putting an end to 10 years of songs. Featuring his own vocals, he shares that this album will be Southern wave inspired by music from the south of the United States, a strong influence in his personal musical journey. He also describes how liberating it is to at last release a montage of songs, turning the chapter and freeing up the space for new ones. I thank Arthur for sharing his creative and energetic time with me, and he assures me that “as musicians we are storytellers with something to share, it’s why we write songs.”