Archeo

Many new artists try to side themselves with a particular scene or establish a new one of their own. But 21-year-old London based singer, songwriter, producer and fully-formed pop star Archeo is not the poster boy for this scene, or the breakout artist for that movement. “I’ve not crossed over from anything,” he says, “and I’m not coming from any niche. I make pop music. Pop to me is a constantly changing landscape, and I’m proud to be part of that tradition.” The funny thing is, by not trying to fit in anywhere, he fits in everywhere. Listen to Archeo’s razor-sharp pop songs with one ear open, and they have the mainstream-friendly ring of those uber-produced radio hits teams of pros spend months crafting for whoever eventually takes them off the peg. Listen more closely and you hear common qualities between these songs; these well-defined, dynamic, vocally-driven songs are more sharply observed and cared-about than they might first have seemed, with lyrics about ambition and darkness and ups and downs. And you may question what exactly it’s all about. Open your eyes and there’s your answer: a 24-carat, 21st Century pop superstar in waiting. There are no puppet-masters here, just one man at the heart of everything. This’ll be no surprise if you’ve picked up on the beautifully executed, pop funk of future anthem ‘The Payback’, the furiously bass-driven ‘Young N Reckless’ or enjoyed the romantic sheen of ‘Extra-Ordinary’, but Archeo has what he calls a “mish-mash philosophy”. Without hitting the listener round the head with clunky symbolism he’s keen that his songs reflect his heritage and globe-straddling life to date. His dad’s work saw Archeo, along with his Panama-born mum, move around a lot - born in Bombay, he moved to Hong Kong, studied at an American school in Nigeria then finally settled to London, “just listen to my accent, you know some air miles have been collected!” he laughs. And despite being a life-long student of pop, he seems brilliantly unselfconscious. “For a while I was nervous to admit that I wanted to be a star, because of all the cynicism that comes with it” Archeo explains. Nevertheless at 16 he quietly began making demos and posting them up onto MySpace, “I knew it would only take a click of a button and I would instantly be connected”. Though the hustle only just started for Archeo, at 17 he saved up and bought a plane ticket to Miami, finding himself meeting with label executives and ultimately leading to a few offers that he ultimately turned down, “I was unsure of what exactly lay ahead, and I was certain that moving too fast would have been a huge mistake”. Behind the state-of-the-art production is a refreshingly old-fashioned passion. In an era of smart playlists and SendSpaced zip files - a world to which Archeo, who’s already picked up a strong online following, is no stranger - he still obsesses about the romantic notion of the radio and, with it, the radio hit. He says about his music, “I just want to shake things up a bit for all the cynical on-lookers of powdered pop, so they can delve in more closely…and see there’s more to it all than you might first think.” And when you say to him that his music, this explosive, space-age future funk pop he’s been brewing for the last five years, doesn’t really sound like anything on the radio at the moment, he fixes you with his penetrating eyes and says quite simply, “just because they haven’t heard it yet doesn’t mean they won’t like it”. So in clattering, space-age R&B workout ‘Glass Half Empty’ which has already garnered massive R1Xtra support, there’s a nod to A.R. Rahman for example, while Archeo’s sharp visual style throws in modern men’s tailoring, a slight rockabilly influence and, let’s not overlook this, a bit of a penchant for hair grease. “I suppose the point is that this mish-mash philosophy I have is one where little bits from here and there work so well together. Distancing myself from the fashion allows me to be the best that only I can be. There are no spin-offs here, it’s different but still relevant”, he grins. Push Archeo to name specific influences and he’ll tell you about his passion for 90s pop songwriting, early-2000s R&B, and great performers such as arguably pop’s two greatest Browns, James and Bobby. Over the next twelve months you’ll hear far more from a largely self-A&Rd collection of songs, many of which are the result of Archeo deciding on producers whose work he likes, finding them on Twitter then, if it sounds interesting, getting in touch. “If I see that someone’s in the studio that day, I’ll check out who they’re in the studio with, what they’re doing and that’ll lead me to someone else,” he explains. “Sometimes I’ll end up contacting someone I never knew existed. It’s pretty exciting.” What might once have been a closed door is now wide open, and it’s a process that has led to Archeo working with a handful of producers like Mr. Waltmann (No Doubt, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Katy Perry) The White N3rd (Loick Essien), Fred Cox and MNEK, but with Archeo at the helm throughout. Certainly, the rich seam he’s hit on in the last twelve months seems a lifetime ahead of Archeo’s earlier demos, even if the passion and energy - and of course that distinctive voice - are all still in check. And there’s a lot of Archeo in all these songs. By the time Archeo releases his album, he says, you’ll have a compilation album from an artist who’s followed his own path, and found out a lot about himself in the process. “In ‘Sun Don’t Shine’ for instance the song’s essentially about a twisted relationship where we only found anything out about each other when we were in our darkest moments,” he explains. “We were held together by those short flashes of darkness. We learned more about each other in those dark moments than we did when we were having a great time. It’s a song about learning from your mistakes.” Archeo may be keen to learn from life mistakes, but this talented new artist who instinctively pushes himself from challenge to challenge is making precious few when it comes to his music. His opening shot at the tail end of 2011 was the self-released riotous anti-authority anthem ‘Mr. General’ - produced by Archeo alongside studio legend Steve Osbourne (Suede, New Order, Perfecto), he says “‘Mr. General’ was a quick blast of what is yet to come”. And rightfully so, with new single ‘The Payback’ in the pipeline, this newcomer better be ready for all the doors that are about to be opened for him. “Believe me, I won’t pause to walk through them”. "The Payback" is out now on iTunes http://bit.ly/PaybackItunes