Not many of us can say that we have released a debut album at the tender age of 17, yet Billie Marten has somehow managed to balance both an exciting fledgling career within the music industry while also battling her GCSE’s and A Levels. Growing up in Ripon North Yorkshire, Marten first grabbed everyone’s attention at age twelve when she performed some acoustic sessions for a local YouTube channel titled ‘Ont Sofa’. She then reappeared at the age of fifteen when she released her debut EP titled ‘Ribbon’. In 2015 she was signed to Chess Club records, an offshoot of Sony Music and released the single Heavy Weather in April 2015. She also released another very successful EP titled 'As Long As’ in November 2015 which included the very successful single ‘Bird’. After touring for the first time in October 2015, supporting Lucy Rose, she has slowly been gathering a growing audience of fans. Her growing support and encouragement from the BBC landed her a place on BBC Radio1’s Sound of 2016 list along with other exciting new artists such as Jack Garratt, NAO and Mura Masa. Finally, to the delight of her growing fanbase she released her debut album ‘Writing of Blues and Yellows’ this year on the 23rd of September. In the past Marten has described her music as a mixture of acoustic, folk and indie. Her inspirations include legendary folk artists and singer songwriters such as Nick Cave and Joni Mitchell.
The title itself, ‘Writing of Blues and Yellows’ is a reference to Martens experiences with synesthesia, a neurological condition which mixes up the senses. In Marten’s case she often perceives music in the form of colours, and specifically in this album she perceives the songs to be composed of shades of blues and yellows. Although Marten has a natural talent to create rich and imaginative lyrics, there is no doubt her unique ability to often perceive different sounds and songs in the form of colours certainly adds something to her creative flair.
Instantly when viewing the album, Marten’s love and fondness for Joni Mitchell is clearly echoed through her decision to use a beautiful self portrait, painted by talented American artist Adam Caldwell for the cover artwork. The artwork of this album closely resembles Joni Mitchell’s well received and widely celebrated second studio album titled ‘Clouds’ in which she too chose to use a self portrait for her album’s cover artwork. Other than Marten’s more obvious inspirations from Joni Mitchell, her angelic and silk-like voice in particular is very comparable to other prominent female singer songwriters such as Lucy Rose. Her ability to create complex, introspective and intricate lyrics that evoke a maturity beyond her years also feels reminiscent of a young Laura Marling. Much like the cover artwork itself, throughout the album and within each song Marten’s lyrical abilities paint vivid pictures and tell stories that draw inspiration from her own observations of the world, her life and the people around her.
The song ‘La Lune’ exemplifies Marten’s seemingly natural talent for creating commanding and engaging lyrics filled with colourful and vibrant imagery (‘Swallow me whole with the moon on my back, one side is pink and the other is black I'm good at hiding in the dead and grey’). Marten’s ability as a synesthete to see songs in different shades of colour clearly aids her in her ability to produce songs that offer a multi-sensory experience and create pieces of music that lyrically translate both sonically and visually. Marten’s lyrical talents are expertly shown throughout the album, each song filled with personal and emotive stories that for such a young singer have some profound observations on the workings of the world. Some of her songs deal with very serious and mature issues, the track ‘Teeth’ sharing Marten’s experiences with mental distress (‘If you asked me if I’m fine then I’d say yes, but I am lying through my teeth and they all know that / ‘And I'm writing this in a bad way, no one can hear what my head says’) and the song ‘Bird’ exposing the dangerous and often unintentional negative impact words can have on an individual ('Nobody's watching, drowning in words so sweet, mild is the water, caught as a bird once free’). The chilling and thought provoking lyrics of some of the songs on the album however do not completely eclipse the often feel good, relaxing and light songs such as ‘Live’ and ‘Milk & Honey’. It is at these points where the often deep rooted melancholia of the album is balanced out. Songs such as ‘Live’ for example, through Marten’s lyrics expresses her enthusiasm for life and firmly represents her as the hopeful, youthful teenager she really is. (‘I want to see things that I’ve never seen, quietly happy and live by the sea’ / ‘I want to stay out all night say hello to the dawn, creep back to bed they’ll never know I was gone’), the song expresses the joyous wishes and hopes of a 17 year old who no doubt has an amazing journey and career ahead of her.
Singles that were previously released before the album debuted such as ‘La Lune’, ‘Lionhearted’ and ‘Milk & Honey’ all carry very touching themes and often lyrically give an insight into both Marten’s childhood and her comprehension of the outside world. Particularly within the song ‘La Lune’, the track provides a nostalgic journey into Marten’s childhood, as we reminisce with her and reflect on her life at home growing up. Often Marten’s lyrics can be incredibly self analytical and represent all the wonders and unpredictabilities of life, her songs filled with the many questions you would expect a 17 year old to have about both how the world works and her own insecurities. The introspective song ‘Lionhearted’ demonstrates this clearly as the lyrics share Marten’s inner-most thoughts, doubts and insecurities concerning her shy nature and introverted personality. (‘What would life be like with a lion heart inside’). In addition, the insightful lyrics of ‘Milk & Honey’ tackle deep and complex issues regarding greed in all aspects of life. (‘But all you want is milk, more than you can drink, all you want is honey / You live for overkill, but you're ungrateful still’). Marten has previously commented that the song ‘Milk & Honey’ provides a social commentary on the dominant ideology in today’s society that suggests to be happy we must constantly gain more and achieve more in a consumerist and commercial sense. It is often the disguised self analytical and social observations underneath Marten’s fragile vocal tones that truly makes this debut album brilliant.
However, songs such as ‘Untitled’ and ‘Teeth’ are paced so slowly and are so delicate at times it seems only Marten’s voice is carrying the song forward. Particularly within the song ‘Teeth’, the understated and small contribution of the piano puts full focus on Marten's voice. While this is a bold move, allowing Marten's velvety vocals to ruminate in your ears, the muted and understated use of other instruments puts a lot of pressure on her vocal talents. Because of this, often Marten’s voice seems to wander into such a deep and overwhelmingly melancholic tone that it causes her voice to float around and sometimes get lost in the open and empty spaces left behind by the absence of any other sound. This is not to say that Marten's confidence in creating songs that position her vocal abilities front and center is all bad, her willingness to often let some songs rely completely and solely on her vocals alone shows a maturity and boldness that is often unseen in a 17 year old singer songwriter. With Marten’s voice often being the only sound we can hear in these songs, this forces the listener to fully engage, hanging on to every word that is spoken by Marten and allowing us to immerse ourselves in the vocal stylings of the young singer.
On the whole album, the track ‘Emily’ is perhaps the most comparable to Laura Marling’s early work, particularly the song’s darker undertone and the use of additional string instruments is reminiscent of songs such as ‘Alpha Shallows’ from Laura Marling’s 2010 album ‘I Speak Because I Can’. In addition Marten’s ghostly and reverberating vocals that bounce around the song as the cello and guitar strings hum can also be compared to the often haunting and echoey vocals within many of Daughter’s songs. Unlike songs such as ‘Teeth’ and ‘Untitled’ that often lack substantial pace and are driven by a sometimes intense melancholic sound, ‘Emily’ combats this by presenting a track that progressively builds itself into a robust and full bodied piece of music that borders on the cinematic.
Often helped by her ability as a synesthete to perceive music in more ways than one, Marten’s prowess as a young folk singer shines brightest through her captivating, mature, and colourful lyrics that show profound observations about the world and invite the listener into Marten’s inner most thoughts. It is the rich and vivid imagery conjured up by Marten’s immense talent for song writing and the hidden meanings and complexities within these lyrics that make this debut album truly special.
★★★★☆
Stand out songs: Bird, Milk & Honey, Live, La Lune
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