Born in Greenock, Grant Armor, Southend-on-Sea raised conductor and songwriter, now lives in South East London.
Grant has traveled the world for the past 10 years making documentaries on topics such as drugs, rave culture, climate activism, fetishes, mental health, prisons, ancient rituals, the homeless, LGBTQ + rights, and space tourism, to name a few.
He made the first documentary about Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for Future movement and has collaborated with Brian Eno on a film about the anniversary of the moon landing.
Grant has recently made documentaries on cartels distributing counterfeit drugs in Mexico, human rights abuses against indigenous peoples in Guatemala, and the drug death crisis in Scotland.
We have had the pleasure of speaking with him and this has been the result.
Hi there ! Where can we find you right now? How did you start your day?
Sup? I’m in my flat in South East London. I had some Shredded Wheat, a cappuccino and fed my cat. I’m putting together pitches for various ideas for documentaries I want to make next year.
When did the idea of starting a project start to take shape? Has it always been something you wanted to do?
I’ve been in various bands in the past and have been making instrumental music for years as accompaniments to the films I make, but I’ve always wanted to return to singing and make a vocally driven project. I wrote the first song, Forgotten What You Look Like on my birthday in 2020, which was in scorpio season in the middle of a heavy lockdown. I spent the day writing the song and aimed to finish it that day to capture the mood I was in so I wanted keep everything simple. I don’t want to clutter the music with too many elements to their space for the listener to immerse themselves in.
How would you define the sound of your latest work? What is the concept behind?
Most of my songs are fairly downtempo and spacious to capture the mood I’m feeling, but this song was made at a frustrating time of wanting to dance during an apocalypse of sorts, but not having the outlet, so continuing the rave in your dreams or in the metaverse. I couldn’t resist focusing on the hypnotic rolling movement of the break to add layers of melody and make an emotional banger. This was also a chance to let loose on my synths. The song is also about stepping outside of routine whether that be your job or even a hedonistic cycle to transcend into new realms right in front of your eyes. Whether that be falling in love, working on your relationships or immersing yourself in the everyday euphoria and the psychedelia of the natural world.
What artists are you interested in these days?
Sockethead, VTSS, Vegyn, Lil Ugly Mane, Pink Pantheress, Yazzus, Kelora, The Big I Am, Tirzah, Real Lies, Cosmo Vitelli, Bad Boy Chiller Crew, Neggy Gemmy to name a few.
How do you manage to combine such disparate genres? How do you manage to give them unity and harmony? What do they have in common for you?
I think music should just be about a mood rather than genres. I think any sounds can come together if they allow space for each other. The tone and emotion is the most important thing to capture – sometimes they unify, sometimes they harmonise, sometimes there’s dissonance, but emotions can be complex and difficult to understand.
How would you define your sound?
Moodcore
Can you tell us something about your current or future projects?
I’ve got so much music I want to flood the market with next year. My next single will be a Giallo inspired ballad.
SOCIAL MEDIA:
https://soundcloud.com/grantarmour
https://www.instagram.com/grantarmour/
https://twitter.com/avantgrant
