Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Arctic Lake

English alt-pop duo Arctic Lake are back with their emotionally-charged single “Breathe.”

Since bursting onto the scene, Emma Foster and Paul Holliman have taken the industry by storm with their blend of emotional songwriting and inventive production, creating a vibrant soundscape that has captivated millions of listeners around the world.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Arctic Lake about their careers, “Breathe,” and more.

PC: How did you both discover your passion for music?
Emma: I vividly remember my dad putting these huge (although now normal sized) headphones on me and playing Queen. I instantly fell in love with Freddie Mercury just from hearing his voice (my absolute first crush). My dad really exposed me to so much music. He had this amazing vinyl collection and we’d sit down and just listen. He’d show me new songs and artists every time. That is definitively what made me get into music. I also remember this red and white karaoke tape recorder toy that I honestly never put down. I used to borrow my parents’ tapes and bop around singing my little heart out. I was tiny, so maybe I just came out of the womb singing. I have some of those tapes and I was no Whitney [Houston] let me tell you. Thank you to my poor angelic parents for supporting me.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your careers?
Emma: Is it sad to say Paul? [laughs] I mean…it’s true. We support one another, we guide one another, we carve this journey together, so there’s no greater influence to me than him. There was a time about a year after graduating from university when I thought I wanted to give up. I completely lost my passion, I got writer’s block, and I felt really lost with it all. If I had been on my own maybe I would have. But Paul absolutely refused to let me drink mango smoothies every day and teach English in Vietnam, so here I am! I joke, but it’s true and I’m very grateful for him every day for being the best!

PC: You’ve had great success throughout your career. Is there a moment that stands out to you thus far?
Paul: I think for me it would be when we played Reading Festival a few years ago. It was the first festival I ever went to as a teenager, so to come back and play was a really nice full-circle moment. Maybe for Emma, it would be when I went on holiday last year and she had a week of freedom. Not too sure though. [laughs]

PC: If you had to choose a song that best encompasses who Arctic Lake is as a duo, which would it be and why?
Paul: I’m honestly not just saying this because it’s the new single (maybe a little bit), but I think “Breathe” is a great showcase of what we can do. It has emotion and intimacy in Emma’s voice and the lyrical content, but the vibe of the track also provides a kind of drive and power behind the lyrics with a couple of weird production bits thrown in here and there for some flavor.

PC: You both have steadily released music throughout the years. How has your sound changed and evolved?
Paul: We’ve been thinking about this a lot recently actually, and finding our style and what we like to do has definitely been a long process. We started off very minimalist and almost ambient—and we still love making that kind of music—but in the last few years we opened ourselves up to the possibility of making songs that are a bit more uptempo and fun, partly because of our changing tastes but also because of changes in our personal lives where we stopped being completely heartbroken for once! So it’s really nice to have this mix between the two now, and it definitely makes live shows a lot more fun for us and hopefully for the audience as well—to have more dynamics in there to change the mood and tempo sometimes.

PC: Tell us about your new single “Breathe.” What inspired the song?
Emma: It’s inspired by the end of a relationship I had. We were together for a very long time and meant a great deal to one another, but somewhere along the way our communication broke down and we were both suffocating in this space together. There were nights where we would lay in bed and there would be this thick wall of silence. We couldn’t speak and we couldn’t sleep. It was heartbreaking, and somehow two years ago we managed to put it into a song. I think a lot of people have been in a similar position, and I hope they can relate and feel the emotion.

PC: This is an incredibly vulnerable song. Has tapping into that vulnerability always been easy for the two of you?
Emma: I think it has. We’ve always been motivated by human interaction and emotion. That’s the starting point for all of our music, whether it’s light or dark, and I think those more melancholic emotions have always been and continue to be the biggest moments of inspiration to me. When I feel those things I have to get it out on paper. Music is maybe the only way I can really express some of the most vulnerable parts of myself. It’s a way of saying how I feel whilst feeling very protected. There’s an element of ambiguity to it.

PC: As we look ahead to the rest of 2022, what can fans expect from you both?
Paul: Loads of music, hopefully, plenty of live shows, and definitely an extensive amount of top-quality Instagram content (mainly me scaring the sh*t out of Emma).

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Emma: Prefab Sprout because anyone that puts dancing hot dogs and frogs in their lyrics and music videos deserves to be there.

PC: First album you bought?
Paul: Maroon 5, Songs About Jane. Still one of the best albums of all time and I won’t hear any different.

PC: First concert you attended?
Emma: I think the first big concert I went to was Sugababes in Sheffield. Unless Barney in Birmingham counts. He’s got some bangers. [laughs]

PC: An album that changed your life and why?
Emma: There’s too many! I would say Kate Bush, The Whole Story. My dad used to play her song “The Man with the Child in His Eyes,” and it used to make my body ache. I loved it. He also spun R.E.M. and Tears for Fears albums loads and both were full of lyrics I still think about constantly. I have to note that the Christina Aguilera Stripped album became my life for a few years. I lived in that album as a young teenager. I was obsessed.

PC: A venue on your bucket list to perform at?
Paul: In the US, definitely Red Rocks, and in the UK, Brixton Academy.

PC: A must-have on the road?
Paul: An endless supply of crisps and hummus—and maybe a small snack for Emma too.

Emma: A portable toilet. I’m sorry, my bladder has the capacity of a small field mouse and I drink like a thirsty camel. [laughs]

To keep up with Arctic Lake, follow them on Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, and Apple Music. Pick up or stream “Breathe” today.

Photo Credit: Scarlett Casciello