Eddie Martin - The Birdcage Sessions

So what does Britain’s Eddie Martin have in store for us this time around?
Well, let’s start by saying that The Birdcage Sessions is a primarily acoustic affair, leaning heavily on Martin’s guitar work and rich voice, with some minimalist additional instrumentation from Martin himself, plus a few cello contributions from his son Xavi.
Stylistically much of it draws on country blues.  But there’s a British folk element to Martin’s playing too, in which respect the guy clearly knows his Richard Jansch from his Bert Thompson – geezers who of course had their own take on Delta blues.

Eddie Martin let out of his cage

So the opener ‘Before We Wake Up’ majors on restrained, slinky acoustic picking with hints of slide, complemented by spells of droning cello and flickers of moaning electric guitar.  Add in some sporadic percussion, and the end result is a darkly cinematic blues vibe for a commentary on modern day greed and poverty.  And the following ‘Home’ is a simple, hypnotic blues, embellished by shivers of harp, subtle washes of organ, and some feminine-sounding backing vocals that Martin apparently managed to contrive himself.
Elsewhere though, ‘Skylight’ combines rippling guitar and nicely judged cello accents in a manner that vaguely brings to mind Richard Thompson and John Martyn.  It’s a meditation framed by the skylight in Martin’s home studio, an imaginative contemplation of the world beyond that window, and the world within - or “space . . . both inner and outer”, as Bill Hicks might have put it.  Closing track ‘Country Walk’, meanwhile, has a Bert Jansch feel, with acoustic playing, slide included, that feels like swimming through choppy water.
And speaking of water, ‘River Song’ flows musically like a current passing through both pools and eddies, with kick drum and harp added to the mix.  The river is a common enough metaphor, and one that Martin was also fond of on his previous album Thirst, but he handles it with style - as he does with the lyrics throughout - and delivers it expressively too.
Because the thing is, the songs on The Birdcage Sessions may be rooted in old-fashioned blues, but they’re not stuck in some time warp, with Martin imitating some dirt-poor dude scratching a living in the Mississippi Delta, with hellhounds and mean-hearted women on his tail.  Nope, Martin writes songs that reflect the world around him.
So if ‘Birdcage Blues’ is a fairly straightforward country blues, at first percussive and then less so, lyrically it’s a call for liberty dedicated to Black Lives Matter.  Meanwhile Martin brings some gritty electric guitar to the fore for ‘I Long For A Sail’, augmented by a metronomic bass note, moaning harp, foot percussion and handclaps as he muses on the appeal of sailing in the midst of lockdown.  And minimalist cello lays down an uneasy background for Martin’s slow and steely picking on the tale of relationship pain in the modern world that is ‘Falling’.
Special mention too to ‘Lazy Sunday’, a reverie about doing not a lot that has lap steel to the fore, twanging lazily to create a dreamy vibe that puts me in mind of Geraint Watkins.  And on a free and easy front, there’s fun to be had on the likes of ‘Kitchen Boogie’ and ‘Too Much Choice Blues’.
On the surface The Birdcage Sessions may seem a simple affair – just some old bald fella with a guitar and a harmonica doing ye olde worlde blues, right?  But there’s a depth and a subtlety to it that’s worth exploring, if you have the patience.  As ‘Lazy Sunday’ puts it, why not “lay right here and watch the sun creep across the floor”, let Eddie Martin’s songs wash over you, and see what you think?
 
The Birdcage Sessions was released on 9 July, and is available here.

Eddie Martin - Thirst

I do like it when a really good album suddenly drops into my lap.  Thirst is one of those pleasant surprises.  It probably shouldn’t be a surprise, given that it’s Eddie Martin’s twelfth studio album, but – well, sorry Eddie, I’m afraid we haven’t been introduced before.

How to describe Thirst?  Well, here’s a checklist.

If the idea of Sixties British blues stylings given a twenty-first century sound appeals to you, Thirst should float your boat.

If you like well-crafted songwriting in a variety of blues-related styles, I think you’ll find it

Eddie Martin - pleased to meet you, squire!

here.

If damn good slide guitar playing does it for you, this is an album that’s peppered with it – but always serving the song.

Do you appreciate lyrics that are sharp and imaginative?  Eddie Martin has that base covered too.

Fancy a side-order of organ and piano, with harmonica relish?  Check.

If you’re in the mood for – tell you what, let’s talk about some of the songs, shall we?

Several of the eleven tracks on Thirst are corking uptempo affairs, with the opener ‘One Man Band’ leading the way, teasing with a fuzzy riff and hoots of harp, both courtesy of Martin himself, before bursting into rocking life life over thumping drums from Tom Gilkes.  It’s a simple song that hits the bullseye right away.  ‘Sewn Up’ is rootsier, with Martin’s slide guitar coming to the fore over a lurching beat and ringing piano from Yuki Yoshizu.

Towards the end of the album, ‘Silver Spoon’ is a relaxed, upbeat shuffle with a real Blues explosion feel, the rhythm section swinging with ease, while Martin knocks out piquant wah-wah licks and delivers witty lyrics.  And the following ‘Fix It’ rattles along on a shave-and-a-haircut-two-bits kinda rhythm, with injections of squawking harp and a crackling, fizzingly bluesy guitar line, adding up to a great, toe-tappingly fun song.

But Martin has other strings to his bow too.  Notably the slower ‘Free Man Blues’, which features moaning, echoing slide, and distant washes of organ from Jonny Henderson over a nagging groove, while the lyrics explore the meaning of freedom.  ‘Like Water’ is another slowie, opening with acoustic 12-string guitar as a preface for a sweeter, weeping slide sound, and spells of both organ and Dan Moore’s Fender Rhodes over a tripping beat.  There’s evocative imagery, a guitar solo that majors on feeling and space, and a closing crescendo propped up by a big bass line from Jerry Soffe.

Lose that frown fella, we like it!

‘Imagine Us From The Sky’ has an epic quality, without ever being grandiose, with Martin displaying fresh phrase-making on lines like “Does the nightingale tell the peacock ‘Your song is like a squeaky door’?  Does the peacock reply, ‘Your feathers are such a bore?’”  But best of the big moments is the closing ‘Frozen Lake’, an atmospheric affair that’s all rumbling bass, pattering percussion, and wonky, Chris Isaak-esque twanging guitar – and even the chiming of some tubular bells, methinks.  All told it’s like being drawn into a dreamscape spooky enough to make Mike Zito’s ‘Old Black Graveyard’ sound like ‘You Are My Sunshine’.

Martin rings other changes too, from the funky ‘Searching For Home’ to the Freddie King-like intro of the shuffling ‘Run River’, with its stinging slide solo, and the Allmans-styled ‘Louisiana Woman’.

Martin may not be BB King in the vocal stakes, but he does have a strong, engaging voice, and across the piece he gets sterling support from the slick backing vocals of Audra Nishita and Nadine Gingell.

Maybe a couple of tracks could have been judiciously trimmed – Martin does like to spread himself a bit.  Maybe a couple of songs don’t reach the slam-dunk standards of the rest.  But these are quibbles, and don’t take the gloss off the overall product.  Nice to meet you Eddie Martin – Thirst is a damn fine album to warm up a cold winter’s night.

Thirst was released on 6 December by Blueblood Records, and can be bought from https://eddiemartin.com/music/.