FEATURE:
Modern Heroines
Part Forty-Five: Billie Marten
___________
FOR this forty-fifth…
PHOTO CREDIT: Katie Silvester
part of my Modern Heroines feature, I am including an artist whose debut album turns five this year. Twenty-one-year-old Billie Marten is one of my favourite artists and, as I have said before, her debut, Writing of Blues and Yellows, was my favourite albums of the 2010s. I was amazed by the maturity, beauty and phenomenal songwriting from the then-teenager! I will concentrate on her previous album, Feeding Seahorses by Hand, came out in 2019. I think that the album was a worthy and exceptional follow-up to an album that I hold in great affection. I think that her upcoming album, Flora Fauna, adds new elements, fresh energy and sonic elements to the palette. It is being released on 21st May. Make sure that you order a copy, as it is going to be a stunning album:
“Flora Fauna is the third album from Billie Marten. Raised in the rolling hills of North Yorkshire on artists such as Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Joan Armatrading, and Kate Bush, Marten’s critically acclaimed debut album Writing of Blues and Yellows, was released in 2016 when she was still just 17, while its follow-up Feeding Seahorses By Hand was similarly lauded in 2019 (# 53 in UK album chart).
Flora Fauna, was recorded with Rich Cooper in London. Marten’s new material blends those signature hushed, resonant vocals with a rapid pulse and rich instrumentation, her inspirations now stretching from krautrockers Can, to Broadcast, Arthur Russell, and Fiona Apple.
Built on the minimalist acoustic folk foundations she made a name for herself with, Flora Fauna is a more mature, embodied album fostered around a strong backbone of bass and rhythm. Shedding the timidity of previous work in favour of a more urgent sound, the songs mark a period of personal independence for Marten as she learned to nurture herself and break free from toxic relationships - and a big part of that was returning to nature”
I am going to quote from a recent interview where Marten discussed Flora Fauna and how her music has evolved and developed through the years. I think that Marten is going to be an icon in the future. At such a young age, she has already achieved so much. Like Laura Marling, she has prodigious talent for someone so young. I am curious to see how she develops as a songwriter - and, as she goes through her twenties and thirties, whether her music undergoes a bit shift (or whether she keeps a more acoustic and Folk temperament in the fold). The first interview I want to bring in is from The Line of Best Fit. If Flora Fauna feels like fresh bloom and a distinct new stage of Billie Marten’s career, perhaps Feeding Seahorses by Hand was a natural follow-on from Writing of Blues and Yellows:
“Marten's mindset has always been naturally focused. Born Isabella Sophie Tweddle, her metamorphosis into Billie Marten was no forced hand, but one she found herself growing into as her musical dreams progressed thanks to uploaded YouTube covers. With this growth came her exploration into songwriting, which took equal roles as a place to journal her own inner workings and as a means to chronicle observations, but it's her deep rooted personality traits that have kept Marten growing richer in a dried-out world.
"[The album] is just little pockets of the past two years. Writing really sporadically, there was a time when I just didn't pick up a guitar, and some of those songs came out of the depths of total..." she tapers off, and pauses, before breathing deeply. "I was not believing I was a musician at all - but actually these songs are some of the happiest I've ever written, so it was just a bit of living that came together in [these] 12 tracks at the end."
Feeding Seahorses By Hand is undoubtedly a decided collection of songs. "I only made another one because I had enough songs to make an album," Marten says.
On her debut, 2016's Writing Of Blues And Yellows, came a delicate version of Marten: sparse folk sounds rang true, while she mirrored herself into a world that had offered her opportunity. A focal point stemmed from the fact its recording took place while she was still in school, and, unlike most, her decision to stay the course and finish her education meant for a while she stood with one foot on familiar ground, and the other firmly in the greener grass of promise.
Like a true child of the arts however, Marten finds literature fuelling her creative sun. No stranger to incorporating it into her music, on her debut she penned a track in tribute to the Brontë sisters, specifically Emily Brontë.
"The correlation between literature and music, for me, was purely based on nature because I felt the people that were writing about it were my sort of community, and it was always a way for them to express how they felt through that."
"This time around I was reading writers that were quite vulnerable; a lot of first-person stuff, a lot of minimalism. My favourite book is L'Étranger - The Outsider - by Albert Camus. It floors me every single time. The first line is [translated] 'Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know.' Brutal things like that. I underline things in every book."
While Marten certainly has an unassuming air about her, the moment you delve into Feeding Seahorses..., the savage side spurred on by the likes of Camus shines through. "Blood Is Blue" features the brutal imagery of "I'm a slaughtered pig / and I’m happy to die," in regards to love, and a previous relationship. Continuing on she furthers this allegory with stark lines such as "So sit down, let's eat / fill your plate all up with meat...".
Her ability to gut vulnerable emotions for want of bare realism, only to then pull out its beating heart brings the truth of how Marten sees the world to light. The numerous references to the sea and marine life on cuts such as "Fish", "Blue Sea, Red Sea", and the album's title track may outnumber the more brutal, but it's this brutality that shows the multi-faceted mind to the environment she inhabits”.
I am really looking forward to the release of Flora Fauna and how it is going to be received. Marten has definitely captured the imagination and heart of the music industry. Looking at her social media feed and her music is being played and recognised by a lot of people! It is great to see such love being blown her way. I am not surprised. From her pure, rich and stirring voice to her amazing lyrical gifts, it is a moving and wonderful experience listening to Marten’s music. Going back to The Line of Best Fit. They reviewed Feeding Seahorses by Hand and had this to say:
“Despite the lengthy absence since her last record, a majority of this album was laid down on on a four track tape recorder at producer Ethan Johns's house in just two highly focused weeks of recording. This organic approach to recording has helped Marten maintain the rough-edge and natural feel of her debut - one of its most praised features - but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t expanded her sound. Where Writing of Blues and Yellows was deeply atmospheric with skeletal instrumentals, Feeding Seahorses By Hand features some more diverse arrangements, incorporating anything from synthesisers to slide guitars and drum machines to choral vocals. Marten masterfully incorporates these new elements with such subtlety and restraint it never seems excessive and never allows them to detract from the raw and subdued nature of the album.
PHOTO CREDIT: Marieke Macklon for The Line of Best Fit
Like its predecessor, Feeding Seahorses is an incredibly spacious album, yet when you peel away the trimmings, these songs all rely on nothing more than Marten with her guitar and her faultless, often double-tracked voice. The songwriting beneath these tender soundscapes feels naturally matured - not a surprise since Marten was still in school when her debut was released.
At its most sparse Feeding Seahorses can sound truly desolate and profoundly intimate, like on the excellent bare-bones Laura Marling-esque "Vanilla Baby" and delicate closing track "Fish", yet more fleshed out tracks work equally as well. "Blue Sea, Red Sea" is a delightful cut that bears an almost lawsuit-worthy resemblance to Pixies’ "Here Comes Your Man" while lead single "Betsy", the synth-laden "Boxes" and peaceful "Toulouse" are all excellent tracks.
This collection of softly sung songs forms nothing short of a gentle and reserved masterpiece. It would have been easy for Marten to have made this record with the same restricted tool set she used on her debut, however she opted for a riskier route that has certainly paid off. Throughout the album Marten refuses to place restrictions on herself, but manages to never go too far, and add more to a track than it needs
On Feeding Seahorses, Marten has managed to skilfully navigate a true artistic tightrope by developing and building on the sounds of her minimalistic debut, without losing any of its original essence. Nothing is lost, only gained”.
I can imagine that, after releasing a debut album, where was a little bit of pressure to get a follow-up out fairly quickly. Aged just seventeen when Writing of Blues and Yellows was released, it must have been quite a strange and suddenly-busy time. In an interview with EUPHORIA., Marten was asked about having to deal with a new career and workload at a very early stage in her life:
“You gained recognition and acclaim really early into your career. Looking back at it, do you think you were ever able to fully process it at the time?
Not at all. My head was all over the place, mostly due to relentless travel and the switching of scene, culture, accent, style of people was all very confusing. Luckily we made it out and I finished up school and decided to start making a small home in London. Now I’m much more settled and clearer on how everything works, particularly in the industry, with the knowledge of what to look out for and when to speak up and how to hold yourself with more confidence I guess. It was an experience.
How was the creative process different for this album compared with your debut?
Recording sporadically last time was very difficult but looking back I thought it was the norm. This time we had 10 or so days cooped up in Ethan’s house to really get a sense of this album as a whole rather than individual songs. We tracked everything on a four-track tape machine which was a new experience, but completely natural. I loved it.
Is the anticipation towards releasing this album different compared to releasing your debut?
You feel the general nervousness of something looming, but I try to forget about things like that.
Your debut album came out three years ago and your first EP was released five years ago. How has your relationship with performing some of those songs evolved over time?
That does seem like an incredibly long time already. I don’t play listen to anything that’s already been released, and will always treasure the first album, but I struggle to connect to those first songs as anyone would. Some of them were written when I was 13/14 which is madness to think I have the same sensibility and brain as I did then. This second time around it’s more band focused and there’s room to breathe, dance, relax, listen to the production. Of course, we still play the old stuff but I enjoy playing live a lot more now”.
I want to bring things up to date. Flora Fauna comes fairly soon after Feeding Seahorses by Hand. An interview I am keen to source from is from Adolescent. It is interesting learning about the background of Flora Fauna and what the creative process looked like:
“Adolescent: You referred to the upcoming Flora Fauna album as a way of pulling yourself out of a toxic pattern and finding ways to take care of yourself. What was that experience like?
Billie: I think people forget the amount of time it takes to learn to respect yourself. It’s something that no one talks about and it’s incredibly important; it’s the key to survival. If you don’t like or respect yourself, you can’t function. I didn’t take enough time to observe if I was really happy. Musically, I wasn’t inspired by anything. I think in the last eighteen months I’ve begun to understand what I need and appreciate myself regardless of who I’m with, which is enormous.
Adolescent: It’s a process a lot of us are still learning. It’s an interesting point that you made about being unhappy and how that negatively impacts your work. I think there’s a huge myth in saying that you have to be “tortured” to be a great artist—that it’s somehow conducive to being creative when that’s not the case.
Billie: I hate that! It’s not the goal to be mentally ill. I really wish we could get rid of the whole tortured-soul-artist thing. Also [the notion that] that if you’re a woman, you’re really troubled. That’s just a recurring storyline and it doesn’t make any sense. I’ve had a history of depression and anxiety, but it doesn’t define me. Sometimes when I write, that side of me comes out, and sometimes it doesn’t. It doesn’t mean that you’re forever a tortured soul.
Adolescent: What did the creative process look like for creating Flora Fauna?
Billie: My producer, Rich Cooper, and I started by writing in a room together. I’d bought a bass, which I’d never played before in my life. We just started playing together over a few weeks and [soon enough] we had a small collection of songs. The first thing I thought was that I’m going to make a rule, and the rule is, if I can’t see myself enjoying playing it live, then I should stop writing the song. That was the template we kept repeating.
Adolescent: Do you feel conscious of the evolution of your work over time?
Billie: I got lost listening to some old demos lately. It was bad singing, just bad! I thought I knew so much about how the world worked and I really didn’t. But you’ll never make a first album again, so there’s no point trying to erase it. It came out when I was seventeen and that’s fine. It will always be on the internet. None of the decisions that you make in your past you want to do now—it’s a constantly evolving thing”.
There are possible tour dates happening later in the year. If you can, go and see Billie Marten play live, as she is a sensational artist who is going to go very far. Marten is booked to play several photos this year - including Y Not Festival and Boardmasters. I feel she will go on to be seen as one of the country’s greatest songwriters. I have followed her work since before Writing of Blues and Yellows came out. I know we will see a lot more music from the incredible Marten! I shall wrap up now. There was no doubt I was going to include Marten in Modern Heroines as she is…
A huge talent one needs to respect and follow.