PREMIERE: Sleep Won't Save You as Arkángel and Misstiq Reimagine Nightmares On 'Haunting My Dreams'
Many of us, including myself, have been spinning Arkángel’s debut self-titled EP non-stop since its release earlier this year. With no signs of slowing down at all amidst the release of their brand new single ‘Haunting My Dreams’, many of us are given a reason to rejoice.
The Albury locals, who are already well acquainted with rising success, following the announcement of ArkFést’s second instalment, have enlisted the creative talents of accomplished musician and online sensation, Misstiq. Known for her cinematic flair and boundary-pushing collaborations, Misstiq’s touch adds a melodic layer of intensity to the band’s already crushing sound, which is certainly bound to capture the attention of fans far and wide.
Vocalist Jake Harrap joined us to chat about the killer track, and also what lies ahead for the quartet.
Hey guys, welcome back to WoS! I've had your new song 'Haunting My Dreams' on repeat since it landed in my inbox. The creative juices are seemingly endless in the Arkángel camp at the moment - your debut EP was released earlier this year and you've quickly backed it up with this banger. Did 'Haunting My Dreams' come together during the EP writing sessions, or was this a fresh burst of inspiration afterwards?
Hey guys! Thank you so much! Its our favourite track so far.
No it was definitely a fresh burst we started writing after the EP and just came together very naturally. It was a longer process for a single, but well worth it.
This new track has you venturing into more of a melodic soundscape than ever before. What motivated that move?
We've always wanted to have a very strong melodic presence in our music, as we love listening to that style especially with heavy music, we find if you can blend the two together that's exactly where we want to be.
Whatever Misstiq touches seems to turn to gold, and her feature on 'Haunting My Dreams' is no different. What sparked this collaboration and how did you find the process of working with her?
Oh thank you again! We have always LOVED her work, especially with the heavy features she does. So we knew we wanted to work with her very early in the band stages. We were actually already working with her on "The Almost Famous Club" with helping our band zero in on our aesthetic and helping us build our own brand as a band also.
Misstiq had listened to our EP and mentioned she would love to work with us on something and BOOM "Haunting My Dreams" was in the works!
Misstiq was extremely easy to work with and completely levelled up the track. When we all heard what she had added to the final breakdown it gave us goosebumps! Was an absolute pleasure working with her.
You've also been working closely with Callan Orr on this single. How valuable has that experience been and what potential does this collaboration hold for the future?
Oh he is already like the 5th member of this band to us, we instantly all got on with him and ideas just started flowing. He will be our right hand man for the next phase of Arkángel and want what we want to create.
Following this release, do you see Arkángel incorporating clean vocals more consistently in their future releases?
Clean vocals is something we even had in our EP so I think we always have and always will incorporate clean vocals (if it suits the part) as we like to write a lot more melodic stuff also.
We don't wanna go down the track of a normal scream the verse sing the chorus type of band, but definitely something that can sometimes blur the lines between Metalcore & Deathcore as we do all love both genres equally.
Can you hint towards whether 'Haunting My Dreams' is a standalone single, or whether it is the first step towards something bigger?
It is a single, but all apart of a much bigger plan with more collaborations to come, that’s all we’ll say about that...
I'm guessing that we can expect to hear 'Haunting My Dreams' at the next edition of ArkFést. Can you give us any insights about what else we can expect?
Oh definitely! We can’t wait to play this song at home!
ArkFést this year will be much bigger and heavier than our last, with a 9 band lineup including Body Prison and Deadskin, Ghost Seeker and Cultists just to name a few!
I'm sure you guys have plenty more tricks up your sleeves - what else can listeners expect moving forward?
I think the biggest thing with us is we’re willing to try anything. If we like it we’ll put it in our music. We’ll always stay within the Deathcore genre mainly and always have pure heavy songs, but we want the freedom of experimenting with the softer more melodic style also, so you can expect anything and everything in between.
Any last thoughts?
Thanks so much for the interview! Hope everyone enjoys our new track, because there’s much more new music to come and hopefully we’ll see you all for ARKFÉST for Halloween
Interview by Adam Rice
‘Haunting My Dreams’ is out tomorrow. Pre-save here
