Arms

Arms is one of three musical projects that Goldstein’s currently involved in (with more on the horizon); the others being lo-fi duo The Sea & The Gulls and hotly tipped band Harlem Shakes. As Goldstein’s solo project, though, Arms is closest to his heart, and an outlet for his most personal and idiosyncratic material.

“When I write by myself, alone in my bedroom, it’s always an Arms song,” he says. “I like shutting my brain off and seeing what comes out in a way that I don’t get to with my other bands. I don’t know what’s going to happen much of the time, and so, when the writing is going well, I feel like I’m getting to know my favourite band, song by song.”

Goldstein moved to Brooklyn in 2004 with the express intention of making music – but upon arriving in New York he was overwhelmed by city life and unable to write. When he finally managed to reignite his creative flame over a year later, he found himself composing a different kind of music than he’d ever done before – the kind of raw, intimate songs he would eventually release under the Arms moniker.

“Once I found myself writing in this new style, I knew I needed to give it its own name. I somehow heard of a British rapper called Ears, and I thought, plural body part, that’s a cool, strange thing to name a band,” he says.

“The music that I really, really keep close to me – the stuff that made me who I am – is the kind of music that keeps you company when you’re alone,” he says. “I’d like Arms to keep lonely people company. That’s about it, really.”