Margate-based Xav Clarke has written the perfect psychedelic pop album, and we’re here for the genre renaissance. “Magic Arrow” is a melting pot of genres with deep rhythms and larger-than life melodies, all glued together with incredible production. The album is there to take you on psychedelic journey and we’re not complaining.
Speaking of the debut album, Xav shares: “Making ‘Magic Arrow’ spanned so many major life events, it’s been the hardest record to finish and release, but that’s probably because thematically it’s the closest to my heart. Listening back to it is like a diary for me as the events took place over several years, and since the theme of the album is really riding the uncontrollable arrow of time – it seems fitting that making this record was totally unpredictable and chaotic. It was recorded across several countries with a whole host of amazing collaborators, sometimes on sofas with voice notes, sometimes in studios. Some of it is super happy and some of it is very reflective, sad, and dreamy – it’s an album of many moods, but ultimately with a deep love and enthusiasm for life, which is probably the thread that connects all the sounds and songs together.”
Writing songs and playing in bands has come naturally to Xav, and his time spent traveling Europe performing and writing songs is the best learning experience you can get. Xav has composed music for a number of animated series, including the BAFTA-winning The Amazing World of Gumball, Cartoon Network’s latest Sci-fi adventure; Elliott From Earth (for which he was nominated for a Music + Sound Award); and, most recently, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Wolfboy The Everything Factory for Apple TV+. With all this under his belt, the future looks incredibly bright
