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On 23 January 2011 Laura J Martin is to release her eagerly anticipated debut album The Hangman Tree on Static Caravan. Armed with a flute ready for wrangling, mandolin and a loop station, she sings over her loops and beats; songs inspired by subject matter as disparate as Japanese folklore to real life sentiments and characters. The album, which features the vocals of Euros Childs, shows her wonderfully eccentric folk-driven wonkiness in all it s glory. With a vocal style reminiscent of Bjork, Bonnie Dobson and Kate Bush, Laura hails from the suburbs of Liverpool with influences that ricochet between Serge Gainsbourg, Wu Tang Clan, David Bowie and Herbie Mann. Mining the strange, darker underbelly of folk with untold layers of intrigue, she flits effortlessly between flute, mandolin and xylophone, as well as using looped vocals and instruments to great effect. There s an otherworldliness to the off-kilter, psychedelic feel of her music, which made her an ideal choice to support the likes of Misty s Big Adventure, Scout Niblett, Buck 65, Hannah Peel, Bonobo, Little Dragon, Singing Adams and Jonny (Euros from Gorkys and Norman from Teenage Fanclub s band), with whom she appeared as both guest and support. She has had a string of releases including the single 'Spy' and 'Inside Your Bones' - a single made in collaboration with 'The Simonsound' (with whom she also performs on their live set), as well as having cut a record with Richard James (Gorky's Zygotic Mynci). Laura has also just finished an improvised album with Euros Childs and Sweet Baboo under the moniker 'Short and Curlies . As well as performing live on Rob da Bank's Campfire Special (Radio 1), Laura has also been championed by Marc Riley (Radio 6), who, wowed by her performance in the live session with 'Jonny' snapped her up for a further solo session in March this year, and is currently planning a UK Tour in support of the album s release.for more information please contact Ken or Alison at Hermana.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Laura J. Martin hails from Liverpool and her debut album 'The Hangman Tree'
is a quirky affair. Her idiosyncratic voice will not be to everyone's taste;
fragile and chirpy and given to much leaping and diving, it might well have
sprung fully-formed out of a parallel elfin world half-hidden from our own.
Her songwriting style, too, is unafraid to plow a singular furrow, somewhere
between 60's psychedelic folk noodlings and a treasured childhood picture book.
Ms Martin is a story-teller at heart and there are sixteen tales to absorb here.
Her predilection for acoustic arrangements are chock-full of prickly rhythms,
plinkety-plockety banjos, stuttering flutes and staccato strings. Although
she shares a narrow bed with Joanna Newsom Ms Martin's compositions are far
more economical in structure. They get to the point quickly and do not overstay
their welcome. The lovely 'Elsie' and 'Mr Lam', for example, are both brief
instrumental punctuation marks coming in to land at less than a minute each.
Compositions of particular note are 'Dark Horse' with its multi-layered flutes
and whistles; the ersatz-Elizabethan shenanigans of 'Salamander' (a duet with
Euros Childs); 'Tom' with its delightful stop/start mandolin and handclaps and
the jaunty country-tinged musical box melody of 'Silent Maria'. There's the odd
twee moment which is a tad difficult to swallow ('Sleepwalker' comes perilously
close to that edge) but all-in-all the album is a magical and engaging journey.
Songs for listeners with a child still in their eyes.
Recommended.
is a quirky affair. Her idiosyncratic voice will not be to everyone's taste;
fragile and chirpy and given to much leaping and diving, it might well have
sprung fully-formed out of a parallel elfin world half-hidden from our own.
Her songwriting style, too, is unafraid to plow a singular furrow, somewhere
between 60's psychedelic folk noodlings and a treasured childhood picture book.
Ms Martin is a story-teller at heart and there are sixteen tales to absorb here.
Her predilection for acoustic arrangements are chock-full of prickly rhythms,
plinkety-plockety banjos, stuttering flutes and staccato strings. Although
she shares a narrow bed with Joanna Newsom Ms Martin's compositions are far
more economical in structure. They get to the point quickly and do not overstay
their welcome. The lovely 'Elsie' and 'Mr Lam', for example, are both brief
instrumental punctuation marks coming in to land at less than a minute each.
Compositions of particular note are 'Dark Horse' with its multi-layered flutes
and whistles; the ersatz-Elizabethan shenanigans of 'Salamander' (a duet with
Euros Childs); 'Tom' with its delightful stop/start mandolin and handclaps and
the jaunty country-tinged musical box melody of 'Silent Maria'. There's the odd
twee moment which is a tad difficult to swallow ('Sleepwalker' comes perilously
close to that edge) but all-in-all the album is a magical and engaging journey.
Songs for listeners with a child still in their eyes.
Recommended.
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