Name: Cici Arthur
Members: Joseph Shabason, Chris A. Cummings, Thom Gill
Interviewee: Chris A. Cummings
Nationality: Canadian  
Current release: Cici Arthur's debut album Way Through for is out February 21st 2025 via Western Vinyl.
Global Recommendation: If‭ you’re visiting Toronto and an architecture fan, there’s a glorious gigantic Art Deco building on‬ the‭ lakeshore called the R.C. Harris Water Treatment Plant, which I was surprised to discover‬ was‭ in the opening shots of the John Carpenter film In The Mouth of Madness (1995). It also‬ appears‭ very briefly in my video‬‭ "Guarantee You A Good Time‬,“‭ directed by Jes Singer of the‬ ‭band HANK, in which I’m also the keyboard player.
You should also go to the Tranzac Club.‬

[Read our Joseph Shabason interview]
[Read our Joseph Shabason interview about his work as a session musician]

If you enjoyed this Cici Arthur interview and would like to know more, visit the band on Instagram.



Do‭ you think that some of your earliest musical experiences planted a seed‬ for‭ your interest in writing lyrics or poetry? How and when did you start‬ writing?‬‭

I‭ wrote songs on the piano when I was a little kid - 6 or 7 years old. They are still preserved on‬ cassette‭ tape. I would make “albums” and design the covers. My main influence was The‬ ‭Beatles. But because I couldn’t play guitar, the piano itself was a huge influence and still is.‬

‭Sample lyrics from my childhood songs: “When I wake up in the morning/I get out of bed/When I‬ ‭wake up in morning/My face turns red,” “In the playtime, you can play,” “Once there lived a‬ king/You‭ wouldn’t like him/He’s king of the forest/King/King …” There’s a sense that the lyrics are‬ just‭ a means to an end, something to fill up the space. Maybe I still think that way, I don’t know!

I‬ ‭definitely struggle with making sure the lyrics all have meaning and connect together well. The‬ melodic‭ and harmonic content of the song comes more easily to me than the lyrics, but I can’t‬ ‭seem to start a song without a lyrical idea.‬

Entering‭ new worlds and escapism through music and literature have always‬ exerted‭ a very strong pull on me. What do you think you are drawn to most‬ ‭when it comes to writing?‬

‭I really don’t think of it as escapism - either listening to music or reading literature.

I guess you‬ ‭could say it’s a retreat into some sort of inner world, some sort of sanctuary where you can‬ connect‭ with your innermost thoughts and feelings, but when I think of escapism, I think of‬ ‭something like going to see The Last Boy Scout or something. Some kind of Tony Scott movie ‭(and don’t get me wrong, I love Tony Scott)!‬ But a bombastic, well-choreographed action movie‬ ‭- that’s escapism.‬

‭What was I drawn to? I always wanted lyrics that had the quality of "high speech" - the kind of‬ ‭language used in a church sermon or something like that. But it still had to have the qualities of‬ everyday‭ language. "The words of everyday speech, but steeped in wine" - that was how I put it‬ ‭in one of my Marker Starling songs (‬‭”Searching for a Song‬‭”).



What‭ were some of the artists and albums which inspired you early on purely‬ on‭ the strength of their lyrics? What moves you in the lyrics of other artists?‬

‭It moves me when an artist can achieve something uncategorizable by fusing melody, lyrics,‬ ‭intonation and phrasing. It’s like when an actor causes you to cry unexpectedly in a movie, just‬ ‭by the way they say their line, it hits you right in that part of the sinus that makes you cry.

Most‬ ‭of the music I like, it’s because I like the singer’s voice. The way they phrase their words - it’s‬ ‭often more in the phrasing and the way the voice might break on certain word.‬

My‭ early inspirations were the basic ones: Lennon, McCartney & Harrison, Cat Stevens, Carole‬ King,‭ Joni Mitchell, Simon & Garfunkel, The Bee Gees (the album Main Course in particular).‬



I’m‭ a child of the seventies - this was the music that was around.

I remember being affected by‬ the‭ lyrics of a song like “Help!” by the Beatles - I remember asking my parents what they meant,‬ why‭ it was the subject of a song, going from not needing “anybody’s help in any way,” to now‬ ‭needing it. I also wanted to know what was so important about a Paperback Writer.‬

‭By my early twenties I was deeply into African-American songwriting, and the lyricists I‬ ‭particularly liked were‬‭ Sly Stone‭,‬‬‭Curtis Mayfield‬‭ and Gil Scott-Heron. All three of them use‬ ‭some combination of ordinary and “high speech” language to create a space through which to‬ ‭view the world more clearly.

And in the case of Curtis Mayfield, the songs he wrote for The‬ ‭Impressions (e.g. “Keep on Pushing”) literally did change history.‬



The‭ song‬ “Winter‭ in America‬,”‭ by Gil Scott-Heron, is a particularly clear-eyed look at American‬ society‭ which was as relevant in 1974 as it was in 1994 when I first heard it, as it is now.

(“Like‬ the‭ forest buried beneath the highway/Never had a chance to grow” “All of the healers have‬ ‭been killed” “Ain’t nobody fighting because no one knows what to save”).



I’m still deeply affected‬ by‭ it.‬

‭I have always considered many forms of music to be a form of poetry as well.‬ ‭Where do you personally see similarities? What can music express which‬ ‭may be out of reach for poetry?‬

‭With music you have endless varieties of ways to colour the sound - instrumental arrangements,‬ ‭production techniques, the timing of the notes, the harmonies, etc. The lyrics alone can’t do that.‬ ‭

But written poetry - that’s a whole different ballgame. ‬‭I remember being very impressed to learn‬ ‭that Nick Drake studied Elizabethan poetry and that David Berman was a poet before he was a‬ songwriter‭ - to me, the‬ Purple‭ Mountains record from 2019‬ is‭ absolutely perfect, lyric-wise.



Leonard‬ Cohen‭ also was a poet before he was a singer. But I never really got the poetry "bug."‬

I‭ like it when a poem pops up in a film I’m watching and I go and look it up. There was one in the film‬ ‭84 Charing Cross Road (1986) by W.B. Yeats called‬‭ “Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven‬‭,” which‬ ‭is very short and ends with the line “Tread softly because you tread on my dreams” - it was a‬ profoundly‭ sad poem, seemingly about unrequited love, the longing for an unattainable other. Or‬ ‭one that the poet was in an unequal relationship with who treated them harshly - a reminder to‬ be‭ gentle.

There was something deep and stirring about it that song lyrics can’t always reach.‬

‭The relationship between words and music has always intrigued me. How do‬ ‭you see it? How far can music take you to places with your writing you‬ ‭would possibly not have visited without it?‬

‭I don’t know - all I can offer is some insight into how the relationship between words and music‬ ‭has worked for me.

I often will sing nonsense syllables until I’m able to fill the melodies in with‬ lyrics‭. And the lyrics may alter the melodies slightly, but they have to obey the same feeling as‬ ‭the melody.

By using that method, the lyrics may turn out to be surprising, and the subject of the‬ song‭ may change, and force you to rewrite earlier sections of the song.‬

‭On the basis of a piece off your most recent release, tell me about how the‬ ‭lyrics grew into their final form and what points of consideration were.‬

I‭ usually only write from my own life experience.

The day I started writing the song “‬Cartwheels‭‬ for‭ Coins‬,‭” I had been watching a film from the 1930s (it might have been Anna Karenina (1935)‬ -‭ something with Greta Garbo) and someone said the phrase “turning cartwheels” as in “I’ll be‬ turning‭ cartwheels for joy” (another phrase is “turning handsprings”).

And the phrase “just‬ ‭another showbiz kid turning cartwheels for coins” popped into my head, as both words and a‬ melody,‭ and I immediately went to the piano and made some voice memos trying to get the idea‬ ‭down.‬



I‭ had been an actor in my childhood and teen years, mostly unsuccessfully, and both my parents‬ had‭ been actors in community theatre, so the atmosphere of a live theatre was always very‬ special‭ to me. Not even watching a play, just being in a theatre - rehearsing, sitting in an empty‬ ‭auditorium, the backstage areas, dressing rooms, imagining weird storerooms full of props and‬ costumes‭.

But my disillusionment at seeing some of the shittier aspects of showbusiness up‬ ‭close, how superficial it was - I’m still affected by it.‬ So‭ making it a song about my childhood experience going to auditions, getting one’s hopes up,‬ and‭ then never booking anything - that seemed like good grist for the mill.

The choruses were‬ very‭ easy to write, using the aforementioned refrain as an anchor. I remember at some point I‬ simplified‭ the opening - the lines that go “These are the words that should be easy to‬ ‭write/they’ve been written on the walls of my heart” replaced some other words that were less‬ direct,‭ and I liked it because it gave the song a kind of “framing story” about a songwriter with‬ ‭writer’s block.

And the pre-chorus part “But it’s a grey sky, nothing to say” - that was part of the‬ second‭-draft simplifying of the words as well - it seemed to sum things up by saying “my‬ ‭disillusionment with showbusiness makes the whole world seem grey and empty.”‬

‭“I would have died for an occasion to rise to” - this was a scrap of verse that had been kicking‬ ‭around my head since the 1990s. “Success isn’t all it’s cracked up to be” - the phrase “cracked‬ ‭up to be” is again using old, circa 1930 language, which seemed to hold a particular power over‬ ‭me and seemed appropriate, and chimed with the oldness of “turning cartwheels”. And then the‬ ‭“to be, to be, to be” chant at the end which of course echoes the “To be or not to be” soliloquy‬ ‭from Hamlet - every actor’s dream is to play Hamlet.‬

‭I got particularly enamoured with this song while writing the demo and kept revising it and‬ ‭revising it. And I know I can only do so much - I’m circumscribed by my own artistic limitations,‬ ‭my limited abilities. But I felt I really got somewhere with that song.‬

Do‭ you tend to start writing with what will be the first line of the finished lyrics?‬ The‭ chorus? At a random point? What are the words that set the process in‬ motion?‬‭

‭I seem to get stuck writing choruses first, and in fact starting the song with the chorus, like in‬ “‭Dancing Queen‬‭,” but then having to write verses that build to the chorus in a convincing way – it’s‬ harder‭ than starting with a verse, I think.‬

‭I'd love to know how you think the meaning or effect of an individual song is‬ ‭enhanced, clarified or possibly contradicted by the EPs, or albums it is part of.‬

‭I love a well-sequenced album. Or a series of 3 or 4 songs that is particularly alluring.

I’ve never‬ ‭been particularly drawn to the idea of a rock opera or concept album, but I like it when a series‬ ‭of songs seems to present a larger canvas of the songwriter’s overall point of view - like the way‬ ‭the song “‬‭People’s Parties” goes into “The Same Situation” ‬‭on Court and Spark by Joni Mitchell.‬

‭

Two songs segue together and it goes from a somewhat more extroverted song describing a‬ ‭rather bad-sounding party to an introverted song, wondering what to do about an unsatisfactory‬ love‭ life, wondering where prayers go “with heaven full of astronauts and the Lord on death‬ ‭row.”

This song seems to clarify all that has come before it on side 1 of Court and Spark, coming‬ just‭ before the end of the side.‬

‭It’s true that when you hear a song within the context of the album it’s in, it has a different impact‬ ‭than when you hear it by itself. It’s like a series of paintings in an art gallery - each one is‬ ‭different but together it adds up to an impression of a moment in time or a point of view.‬

‭Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as‬ ‭though writing song lyrics or poetry is inherently different from something like‬ making‭ a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you‬ ‭couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?‬

I‭ tend to separate the act of music-making from everyday tasks. My everyday tasks get‬ neglected‭ when I’m writing music! Though I did decide to become a singer one day in 1995‬ ‭while I was washing dishes and singing along to a Syl Johnson record (‬‭Total Explosion‬‭).

Doing‬ ‭the dishes can sometimes be a pathway to creative thoughts. Putting your hands in the soapy‬ water,‭ the minute sense of satisfaction at having made a dirty thing clean, it’s like a “touch‬ ‭grass” moment.‬

‭The song “Way Through” was written while I was going for long bicycle rides during the lockdown.‬ ‭I had nothing to do but I wanted to get out of the house and not be around other people, so I‬ ‭started going on long rides in Scarborough, the huge suburban city immediately to the east of‬ ‭Toronto proper.

I was always trying to find ways through the sidestreets so I could avoid the‬ ‭main streets as much as possible, and the map in your phone can only help you so much -‬ sometimes‭ you meet more than a few dead ends. And the phrase “What good are dead ends‬ ‭when I’m looking for a way through?” just popped into my head.‬