Ground Control Touring

Pennsylvania bedroom pop artist ARTHUR draws from a rural upbringing, video game music, and his complex internal world when coming up with his off-kilter pop songs. He explored themes of isolation and imaginative characters on self-produced albums like 2018’s Woof Woof.

Arthur Shea grew up in the woods of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Though his parents encouraged him to try out playing music, traditional instruments weren’t an immediate fit, and Shea found more inspiration in the soundtracks of the video games he spent hours playing. This transitioned into making music on his father’s computer with music-making software. Throughout middle school and high school, Shea and his friends experimented with music in this fashion, releasing some of their creations online. After high school, Shea moved to Philadelphia and became involved in the music scene there. He released music under his own name and with the band Forever Lesbians, who later changed their name to Joy Again. After acquiring a small fan base with his various projects, Shea took on the moniker ARTHUR and released his first album Woof Woof in 2018 on the Plz Make It Ruins label. The record was recorded in the solitude of his childhood home and gathered 16 short and stylistically scattered songs into a 25-minute running time. He returned two years later with Hair of the Dog, another collection of bright and unpredictable pop miniatures. This time around, ARTHUR recorded the album in his apartment in Philly and released it through the Honeymoon label.