Artificial Go: "'Hopscotch Fever' Was Mostly Visiting Old Demos. 'Musical Chairs' Was a Turning Point of Writing New Songs Together in Present Time, Providing a More Collaborative Sound"

Cincinnati's Artificial Go continues to craft wiry, Dadaist-fueled post-punk with bright tuneful art pop across their new album Musical Chairs. Following up last year's debut LP Hopscotch Fever, the arrangements on Musical Chairs feel both more expansive and experimental. On the lead cut "Circles," Eric Dietrich (The Drin, Sorry Eric) makes a guest spot on saxophone that feels otherworldly. "Tightrope Walker" features jangly acoustic guitars that add a lively and intricate texture to the deceptively simple pop meditation. Angie Willcutt's ethereal vocals on "Playing Puppet" create a mythical ambiance that evokes the feeling of a '60s beatnik coffeehouse. Micah Wu's jagged guitar lines and Cole Gilfilen's toe-tapping drum beats drive the swirling melodies of "Lasso" and "Hallelujah." Together, these distinct elements highlight how Artificial Go has evolved over the last year, pushing boundaries of their art-damaged sound while solidifying their identity as a dynamic trio. Biff! Bang! Pow!

Hot Sounds: Things have been happening fairly quickly for Artificial Go. What are your thoughts looking back on the group's accomplishments over the last year and what's to come? 

Angie Willcutt: This year has strengthened my belief on taking chances and trusting that things will work out — it brings good luck! We’ve grown a lot together this year. 

HS: What have been some of the highlights taking the concept of Artificial Go to the stage? What are you looking forward to the coming shows this month and next? 

AW: A highlight of live performance for me has been the freedom of movement. I can move and dance as I please! I am looking forward to looking out of the window on car drives, meeting new artists, drawing in between shows, camping on off days, eating bagels and making new friends along the way. 

HS: How did the show with Brainiac go?

AW: It was all around a great night for Ohio folk! They asked us to come up to Baltimore to open for them, and it was my first time seeing them live. They were fun and kind, and we hung out after the show at a bar.

HS: What's the story behind "Miss Lady" and what has she been up to as of late? 

AW: Miss Lady is a vision and embodiment of self love, assertiveness, and of course is a fashion icon. I draw her day by day. I enjoy the familiarity of Miss Lady. She is a constant in my life. When things are shifting or out of my worldly control, I simply draw Miss Lady in her cartoon world, and feel a deep sense of peace and belonging. Sometimes when I am in a pickle, I think to myself, "What would Miss Lady do?" She would be assertive and loving, and pave her own way. She is a spiritual soul sister to me, with a big personality! Miss Lady has been out and about Cincinnati, and across the USA on show flyers. Miss Lady made her way to New York City on the cover of Sydney Salk’s fanzine, Compilation Nation, this spring. She has been dancing on the walls of Micah's and my apartment, and filling up all my notebooks. She hopped on our new record, and has upcoming plans that are classified information at the moment!

HS: Your artwork has also been scattered across tour flyers and other groups' cover art. What has that been like? 

AW: It has kept me on my feet! With five weeks of touring coming up, I’ve been drawing a lot of flyers recently. Outside of that, people commissioning me for my illustrations has been fulfilling my desire to provide for myself through my art work. I am honored that other folks wish to engage with my hand drawn fantasy land. 

HS: For those who may not be familiar, how do you distinguish between Artificial Go and your other group ROD particularly in terms of your approach to songwriting and arrangement?

Micah Wu: ROD is pretty much fully electronic at the moment. We’re at a point where we usually make a new set for each show. Four on the floor and spacey interludes lately. We’ve been keeping it pretty open to jam on. Artificial Go is guitar songs with more rigid structures. 

HS: What can you tell me about your new album, Musical Chairs, and what insight can you share about where, when, and how it was recorded? I read bits of it was recorded in the haunted attic of your house?

Cole Gilfilen: Musical Chairs was recorded during a transitional period for us as a band. The first few recordings we made were done at Lambda last summer, the warehouse spot I was living at the time. We didn’t have air conditioning so a lot of sweat went into those first several tracks. Around December, I moved in above Angie and Micah in the duplex we all share now. We set up a shared studio space in the attic where we recorded the remainder of the tracks on the record. There’s not a single power outlet up there so we ran everything off a 100 foot extension cable from my kitchen. A lot of the metal on our equipment emitted electrical charges, zapping my hands while mixing. In addition to that we dealt with the fiberglass insulation exposure which over time was irritating the hell out of our throats and lungs. The songs "Red convertible," "Late to The Party," and "Yaya" were all tracked live after jamming around together which was different from the past ways of tracking everything separately. 

AW: When moving in, Cole set up the recording studio in the attic of our home before setting up his apartment [laughs]. We wrapped up the last few songs of the album up there. The attic is full of open insulation, and was left unutilized until Cole moved. The energy is interesting up there. When moving things into the attic for the first two weeks, doors kept slamming shut and we heard lots of footsteps walking in the day and through the night. The door even slammed shut in our kitchen the first time Cole’s mom came over to check out the apartment. I think if there really is a ghost, it resides in the attic and isn’t too fond of rock 'n' roll. 

HS: How would you say Artificial Go has evolved on this new album when compared to where you were during the making of Hopscotch Fever?

AW: Hopscotch Fever was mostly visiting old demos. Musical Chairs was a turning point of writing new songs together in present time, providing a more collaborative sound. I only sang on our first album, but this time around I played guitar on the songs "Yaya" and "Red Convertible."  

HS: What influenced the cover art of Musical Chairs?

AW: I thought of a band portrait idea of us playing the game Musical Chairs, and drew a quick sketch to see what the photo would look like. Then it clicked — "Oh I should just draw something like this for the album cover instead!" I drew variations of the concept cover over and over again, for at least 20 hours in total on poster sized paper. I envisioned it to be a world of chaos and play, where not even gum on your shoe, or a dalmatian dog biting your leg can bring you down. Miss Lady is in her marching band hat, ready for the music. 

HS: Diving into a couple of the toons, what's the story behind "Circles"?

CG: I recorded the demo for "Circles" on my lunch break, and after work Angie came over and laid down the vocals.

AW: I don’t have a dog, but have been writing about dogs in songs for both of our albums now. Perhaps my subconscious is asking the world to guide me to one! It was a sporadic song, when Cole got off work I came over, grabbed a pen and paper, and just started writing about dogs. It came together pretty quick, and later Micah came to add on a lead guitar part. It was a really fun song to write together. 

HS: How exactly did "Hallelujah" come together?

AW: Last Thanksgiving, Micah and I were driving home to visit family in Lexington, Kentucky. I saw sun rays through the clouds, and felt my grandma, Billie Anne who passed away in 2011. I grabbed my notebook and pen, and wrote the lyrics to "Hallelujah" as a poem. Writing that poem was a moment of soul contact with Billie Anne, where all the words came onto paper before I knew what was coming next. I read the poem to Micah, and the next day he wrote the instrumentation for me to sing this poem. She was obsessed with angels. 

She and I share the same birthday, May 19th.  

HS: Micah, what can you tell me about your new album On The Fringes Of Fear & Excitement and the origins behind Rainbow Valley?

MW: The album is basically a compilation of work that I’ve written over the past five years. I finally got around to recording some of my favorite tracks over the past year and wrote some new ones along the way. There are a handful of upbeat tracks, but an obscure and lonesome feeling persists throughout the collection. I started out writing during the pandemic. I’d walk out to this secluded field on the outskirts of town that overlooks a filthy creek with a shopping cart sinking into the middle of it. Ducks would swim by sometimes, alongside candy wrappers and whatever other runoff found its way in there. As for the name, Rainbow Valley is a place where there are a bunch of frozen corpses adorned in colorful clothes. It’s too dangerous to retrieve the bodies so they just sit there.  Cute name though.

HS: Angie, how do you look back on last year's solo release Entries From Earth?

AW: I released that album as if it was a diary entry. It felt quite liberating, leaving the recordings as first try or just live free styling lyrics. I would like to make tapes of that album at some point in time. I’ve never had physical copies of my solo music before. 

HS: Cole, do you have any plans with Corker and The Drin this year? 

CG: The Drin is closing in on a new record. We also have a show with Nigerian band Takaat on May 11th that I am excited about. 

HS: What are some future plans for Artificial Go and other projects you all maintain? 

AW: To keep on truckin'!

CG: Touring out west and recording more tunes.

HS: Any advice or last words you'd like to share with our readers?

AW: The world is your runway! 

CG: Keep on.

MW: Follow your dreams.

Musical Chairs is out May 16th on Feel It Records.