Additional Editing by Anouska Liat

So to start off with, the name. Looking up ‘diminutive’, it means ‘extremely or unusually small’, is that what you were going for?

Diminutive came from me being small because obviously I’m a small guy, then the whole Arthur thing came about through King Arthur. I was researching him and these other cool Kings and he was just seen as this King who’d slay these beasts and even demons, so I played on that. I’m small on the outside but I’m battling a lot of sh*t on the inside.

Do you think this new project is sort of representative of that?

I’d say so yeah. It’s just about how I feel these days, the sh*t going on in my head and around me I suppose.

It feels like it’s designed to overcome the struggle, for example you talk about your parents divorse and maturing, so would you say that’s true?

The main thing I focus on is growing and becoming older, as well as reminiscing on the past, so definitely. I talk about the way I dealt with my parents divorce and all the problems when I was younger, looking back on it now and as you say maturing.

Does that relate to the cover art being a baby photo?

Yeah, me and my Paps. It’s nice.

You’ve been working with Easy Days and featured on ‘It figures’, then he returned the favour on this EP on “LaGuardia”, how did that come about?

He’s my best friend’s brother and we started making music together about four months ago. I went to his house, made ‘It figures’ and that eventually got played on Radio One which I’m very grateful for. Then we were jamming at mine one day and I had this beat for the track “LaGuardia” and he added some guitar. I can’t remember the poet’s name, but I had this book with a poem in it called ‘These Days’ and I got him to read a section from it, so that ties into These Days as well.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Matthew Thorburn is the poet, from the book ‘The Trees The Way The Light’]

So are you a fan of poetry?

Yeah definitely, John Cooper-Clarke and Charles Bukowski, I quite like.

That track, “LaGuardia”, what is that in reference to? It’s an airport in New York isn’t it?

Basically the title just comes from part of the poem that Easy Days is saying at the end of the track. You could then link it to the fact it’s the last track on the EP, and I’m flying away from him. So all the sh*t I'm talking about in the EP is gone, it’s behind me.

What was the recording process like?

It took around a month or two I’d say, just me and my producer Low-Fly. He’d come to my house and we’ve got a little studio set up there, and then we’d go to the studio near Piccadilly called Spirit Studios and we’d just record there once a week, every Saturday and maybe a Tuesday.

What were you listening to for inspiration at the time?

That’s a hard question… everything I suppose. A lot of jazz, a lot of Mike Skinner, Loyle Carner is a big influence as well obviously, underground UK hip-hop like the group Sub Luna City and King Krule. A lot of my friends as well to be fair, some play in bands that I listen to like my friend Moses (a.k.a. Moro) who raps, a band called Cabin Fever, who haven’t got anything out yet.

Let’s talk about Wu-Tang.

Yes, Wu-Tang Clan! That’s what got me into hip-hop, being a young kid skating, hearing it on skate videos. ‘36 Chambers’ is my favourite album, GZA’s ‘Liquid Swords’ is another. I stemmed from there and got into 90s hip-hop and eventually more underground stuff.

Which Wu-Tang member do you most closely associate with?

I imagine RZA or GZA. RZA’s got the creative mind, the samples he uses really inspire me. All the old shaolin movie samples, that’s what first got me in touch with the practise.

What future ambitions do you have?

I want to be playing more shows, have a few more projects under my belt, and work with a live lot more live musicians. Drummers, guitarists, saxophone players… I want to be more involved in production, having a project with me on production would be nice.

What’s next for you?

I’m supporting my friend ‘arigato’ for his EP launch in the late summer. Inner City Recordings has another event on October 4th, I’m on the roster for that. We’ve got a single and video on the way too, and I just started recording my second project last night, hopefully that should be out in September. A lot of things coming over in the summer.

Diminutive Arthur