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Arrange Interview (First Interview In a Very Long Time!)

Arrange is just one person: Malcom Lacey. And he, for being as young as he is, makes some great, dreamy music a la Maps or Ulrich Schnauss. Odds are you may not be familiar with him, so here you go:



Before my family emergency & hiatus, I got to ask Malcom several questions. He responded while I was in Erie, hence the delay. Read on to get a better understanding of Arrange/Malcom Lacey (as well as a film suggestion).

UC: What compelled you to start creating music? What inspired you to start?

Malcom: Hurt. There was so much going on in my life when I decided to pick up the guitar. I had just gotten back from a four-month stint at the wilderness therapy program my mother had sent me to. My lens had changed. I saw things a lot differently. It was jarring even having to navigate all of the pain I still felt even then after all of the help the program was to me. I needed a way to talk about it. I needed to be able to scream and to whisper and to bang around on things. Music was inevitable I think. 

UC: Where do you continue to get inspiration for Arrange? Your music is fairly unique- like a shoegaze/dreampop/electronica hybrid.
Malcom: I feel like I go through phases. The fall/winter saw me listen to a lot of The Blue Nile and Prefab Sprout and Alexander O' Neal. Lots of lush instrumentation and emotive vocalists. I'm inspired by anything really. My adoring husband, Patrick.  (AWWW) My dogs. I love them. I have three. A pitbull named Cutty. A Husky named Hira. and a 12-year-old Jack Russell Terrier named Sadie. They're all sweethearts and I love them to death. 

UC: What prompted you to move to Portland? I ask because of the city's musical legacy (i.e. Elliott Smith, Quasi, etc).
Malcom: To put it simply, I just needed to leave South Florida. I never felt comfortable there. I needed to feel in control of where I was and as petty as that seems to me now at the time that was very important to me. Portland is a very beautiful city. Huge bridges. Beautiful waterways. I love everything about it. I actually live across the river in Washougal, WA. I find it much easier to tell people I live in Portland though.

UC: What are you working on currently?
Malcom: Me and my boy Chris Sikofillos are working on our project Ręg Łífē. It's sort of a hip-hop project mostly an r&b project. I love it. It's a lot of fun to work outside of arrange's world. 

UC: Where would you like your career in music to take you?
Malcom: I used to get very romantic about this idea. The idea that I could be a musician. The idea that I could perform and put myself out there. I don't think it's for me. It's suffocating I feel to be on stage and sing my songs. It's a very uncomfortable place to be for most people I feel. I'm weak probably. I'll try and work at it. But at this point I don't really have any goals or aspirations. I just want to be able to make songs that I could listen to.  (WORD)

UC: What music yourself are you listening to these days?
Malcom: I've been listening to a lot of Donell Jones "Life Goes On," Kelly Rowland's "Talk a Good Game," Paula DeAnda's "s/t," and Yusef Lateef's "Eastern Sounds."

UC: I read you are an avid film watcher. What's a film you highly recommend?
Malcom: I really love this question. (aww) I sampled Pedro Costa's "In Vandas Room" in a new arrange song I finished a month or so ago. That's probably something people should watch. :D


Follow Arrange here- and thanks Malcom! If you don't listen to him at this point, you is a fool. 

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