Photo by Shawn Brackbill
The avant-garde is generally the last place you turn to for pop hooks, but Alexis Georgopoulos has always been a man of multitudes. The New York-based musician, who records under the name of Arp, has one of the more interesting resumes around. As a kid, his parents exclusively listened to classical music while Georgopoulos gravitated towards the electro-pop dominating the airwaves in the ’80s. Those two styles left a huge imprint on the artist, and when Georgopoulos began as Arp, he sought to unify the classical and electronic music of his youth.
2010’s The Soft Wave put Arp on the musical map, but after an extensive tour, Georgopoulos was burned out. He quickly turned to the art and fashion worlds and was welcomed with open arms. His music has accompanied performance pieces at MoMA and Philip Johnson’s Glass House, and Karl Lagerfeld personally selected an Arp song to soundtrack a Chanel runway show. In his quickly-dwindling spare time, Georgopoulos is a published author, writing on music, art, and design.
And for his next act? Georgopoulos has largely ditched the synthesizers and electronic trappings for MORE, Arp’s new album out September 17. Instead, the musician has gravitated towards acoustic instruments, crafting a stylistic left-turn that owes more to the blues and the Velvet Underground than Bach or Duran Duran. He even tries his hand at singing, and his voice comes out much more confidently than you’d expect from someone who’s used to instrumental epics. Over a swaying, doo-wop-inspired beat, Georgopoulos croons his way through album stand-out “More (Blues).” It certainly comes out of nowhere, but given his pedigree, expect Georgopoulos to follow his muse wherever it takes him next.
