Leicester’s Martha Bean announces her new EP and shares the exquisite pop-folk of new single ‘Along The Lonely’
“Is it all right to settle for someone who is ‘all right’, just so you aren’t lonely?”
The lilting rhythms of ‘Along The Lonely’ – its warm double bass, whispering drums, shimmering guitar and sweeping strings – carries a song that has something of a dark heart. Via an inventive mix of folk, jazz and pop, inspired by such visionaries as Nilüfer Yanya and Grizzly Bear, Martha Bean’s new single questions the motives behind our longing for relationships. “We all need someone,” says Martha, “and that can be beautiful. But some people just want a ring on their finger and someone to moan at when they forget their anniversary. Is that ‘love’? Is that OK?” As her vocal soars from sarcastic but tender through a powerhouse refrain and its reflective climax, Martha expresses the conflicting emotions of such uncomfortable truths.
About Martha Bean
Leicester-based alt-folk songwriter Martha Bean began her musical journey early – at the age of just three, she began writing melodies on the piano, but refused lessons from her mum (a piano teacher). She turned her hand to any instrument she could get hold of, which, growing up in a musical household, wasn’t too difficult.
Following on from these creative beginnings, Martha infused her own material with a broad set of influences, from singer-songwriters Fionn Regan, Nilüfer Yanya, Nick Drake and Andy Shauf to her fellow boundary-breakers Radiohead and Grizzly Bear. This sonic template has been further expanded by supporting the likes of Scott Matthews, Marika Hackman and Seth Lakeman, while her songs have been played on 6Music, and featured on trailers for primetime BBC TV shows as well as advertising campaigns. Her debut LP When Shadows Return To The Sea won glowing reviews and favourable comparisons to the likes of Fiona Apple and Norah Jones, among others, upon release in 2015.
Martha has also turned her hand to production and, impressively, she recorded and engineered the whole of her new EP in her home studio. ‘Here Comes the Snowstorm’ features five tracks connected by themes of life’s inevitable highs, lows and unexpected quirks. It is a striking body of work, Martha Bean’s best to date, and, at a time when the artist has become a mother for the first time, represents further cause for celebration in an extremely memorable year.
