After listening to Beyonce, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Chris Brown day in and day out, sometimes the urge for a change takes hold. Although we constantly revere our favorite musicians, sometimes we find ourselves taking a break and looking for something new. Perhaps the local band Arto is exactly what we're looking for.
The band consists of three members: Cassidy J. David-Weber, East alumni Myles Coyne, and our very own Jamie Yanda, a senior this year. The word "arto" is a Latin term meaning "to unite" or "to [abridge]." The band's CD, which was released last summer, compliments its title as its content bridges different genres of music together to create a unique sound.
Arto's music is a mixture of folk, noise, and electronics combined with a passionate and soulful narrative. With the aid of many friends playing guest instruments, the songs not only make use of the standard bass, drums, piano, and voice, but also include gongs, xylophones, radio frequencies, broken harps, drum circles, loon calls, horns, and more.
As band member Yanda puts it, "all that surrounds you and me has the potential to be made a musical instrument."
The songs on the album, including "There Will Be Blood," "Sah," "The Language of Animals," and Y and's personal favorite "Samsa's Compassion," were inspired by "people who live passionately, wildly, and dangerously."
Arto's music conveys the following message: "Remove your luster of social responsibility. Far too many people are owned by far too many things. Do it yourself. Do what you want, when you want. Your Humanness is your highest authority."
Arto relieves listeners of the mundane sound found on the average iPod and provides a unique, passionate, and powerful blend of music. With the talent that the album contains, who knows? Someday Ato's name may be printed in a newspaper bigger than this one.