In the midst of a burgeoning career, Michael McArthur did what many singer-songwriters may find unthinkable—he took a break. Requiring respite after years of constant writing, touring, and performing, McArthur spent some time away from his musical passions to focus on repairing his relationship with his spouse and himself. Ever Green, Ever Rain is the result of the folk artist’s return to it all after taking what restful moments he had self-prescribed. Fading lines between whimsy and wisdom, McArthur’s forthcoming album is a full-bodied work of folk majesty that pushes the chestnut genre’s musical boundaries in captivating new directions.
Alongside today’s release of Ever Green, Ever Rain, McArthur is premiering a new music video for his single “Save Me From the Fire” exclusively with PopMatters. Almost psychedelic in composition, the visual features McArthur as gorgeous natural backdrops quite literally swirl around him and about him. It’s an accompaniment to the song itself’s inner nature, a tempest brooding just beneath the surface of its pulsating percussive rhythms.
McArthur tells PopMatters, “In a way, I owe this one to Nina Simone. I was at home listening to music late one night. Bourbon in the glass. Somewhere along the way, Nina’s “See-Line Woman” came on. I’ve always loved the rhythm in that song. So, I set up a microphone and recreated the beat using different parts of my acoustic guitar as the drums. Also, shaker, tambourine, clapping, etc. Then I sat down and looped the rhythm I’d just recorded, played along with it, and wrote the song. When it was time to track the real version at United, Steven Nistor who played all of the drums, came up with this otherworldly rhythm that’s very different than the demo I made, and in turn, helped make the song.”