Correction: The article incorrectly identified Argote as a music teacher and the origin of the Des Ark name. We have removed the misinformation, and The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
Des Ark was formed by Aimee Argote, whose latest album Don’t Rock the Boat, Sink the Fucker was released last year to all sorts of praise. Staff writer Meghan DeMaria spoke with Argote about her songwriting process and future plans.
Diversions: Who are some of your musical influences?
Aimee Argote: I give the same answer to this question every time: It’s really my friends that play music. A lot of them I’ve known for years, and because so much of the music is inspired by the human experience, my friends that play music are always examining that, and that really inspires me.
My friends also have different kinds of lives than the life I live in. One band I love is called Pygmy Lush. We’ve toured a bunch together, and I find constant inspiration from them.
Dive: From where do you get the inspiration for your lyrics?
AA: It’s personal experience, obviously, and the people in my life. When people talk about musical inspiration, I throw lyrics in there. It’s another way of communicating a story. A lot of times, it’s watching friends go through something, and it’s about their process and sometimes my process of putting myself in their shoes.
Most of it is stuff about my life, the process of working things out. A song comes when you’ve worked it out. It’s easier to focus on the traumatic sides, because those put out a lot of energy.
Dive: How would you describe your music?
AA: If I’m describing the band, I say it’s on the prettier side of rock music. My solo stuff is way more lyrical-based and really super quiet and really super sad.
The quiet stuff is the breakup music, and the loud stuff is the actual breaking up part of breaking up.
Dive: Where do you hope Des Ark will be in five years?
AA: Art, to me, is just a tool, and it’s not something that you can put the reins on like that. When you do that, it limits your ability for self-expression. If you get too consumed with where you want to be, you lose focus of where you are today and what you can use that for.
We’ve just never been a band that sets goals, because it feels inauthentic to aim for something unless that’s building closer relationships with each other over time. In terms of where the band will be, I don’t look at it that way. I hope it still makes us happy.
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