a quixotic encounter
by graham brown-martin on jul 3, 2003, 14:09
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the tricky years
if you don’t recall her name you will, no doubt, immediately recognise her voice. during the mid-nineties martina with her then partner, tricky, co-wrote and produced a series of benchmark albums that defined and reflected post-e britain. often dark and brooding, mutated breakbeats, distorted hip hop and guitars laced with sexual innuendo, beauty and fear, tricky’s growling slo-mo rap and martina’s emotive, haunting voice. their first outing being the indispensable maxinquaye album, followed by the, pre millennium tension, nearly god and angels with dirty faces lp’s, each charting new musical territories that immersed the listener within their world like a co-conspirator.
when their relationship came to an end so did their creative partnership for the tricky albums that came later - although today, with a child between them, they are on surprisingly good terms with continued involvement in each other’s projects.
martina’s debut solo album, quixotic, arrives on july 14th, the blessed fruit of three years introspection, evaluation and finally, conception. with a tantalising list of collaborators that includes david holmes, david arnold, tricky, josh homme and mark lanegan (of kyuss, screaming tree’s, queens of the stone age fame) plus some incredible live performances, the record is hotly anticipated.
despite the critical acclaim of the tricky albums and media interest there is surprisingly little known about martina and on meeting her i asked whether this was deliberate. she laughs and tells me “this was just the way it happened, i didn’t see the need to explain anything and beyond my biog i felt the music should speak for itself”. which you have to admit is a fair point, if only someone would tell this to all those manufactured pop puppets or at least their owners.
the alternative english girl
martina was born in london in the mid-seventies to successful parents of el salvadorian, seminole indian and african american heritage. at the age of 6 she moved to britain’s leafier area’s travelling west to berkshire and then at 12, somerset, attending private schools in sussex, bristol and cambridge. martina describes her childhood as “mainly great”, enjoying the independence that a boarding school education provided. her musical influences leaned towards the alternative, bands such as jane’s addiction and the pixies, driven mainly by her, now fashion designer, sister chrissy who when working at the rock based ritz venue in new york would slip martina into the show’s playing there.
martina had not intended on a career as a recording artist and originally harboured an ambition in oceanography, something that remains for some future time ahead perhaps. singing was something that she had considered but the real impetus came when, at the age of 16 or so, she met tricky. by the time she left school she was recording an album. martina tells me “i was 18 when we did maxinquaye and everything was new, i had just left school, i was making a record by the end of which i was pregnant but we [tricky and i] where on the same page”.
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martina, quite rightly, refuses to be pigeonholed into a category such as “urban”, a term, which she says “has been romanticised but is really just another club and i’ve travelled around too much to be a member of just one club, something new is always interesting but once it’s franchised it becomes dull”, reflecting on the moribund state of so-called “urban” music.
martina is signed to uk label independiente, the home of travis, so solid crew, lisa maffia and funky popster jody lei amongst others. a decision that was inspired by the creative freedom that she would have under the label plus dave gilmour, who as island records hitman had previously signed her to the label when working with tricky, was running things at independiente. she felt that this would allow her to create her album without compromising her integrity. martina took an active role in the production and gamely suggests she had a tendency towards control freakery in the process. perhaps not such a bad thing when ultimately it’s an album with your name on it. “really it’s been more a case of being focussed and practical but has really made me aware of how people relate to each other” she explains.
quixotic
a clue to the making of this record as much as how it sounds, is in the album title. “quixotic’” may be defined as being motivated by idealism that overlooks practical considerations, taking a romanticized view of life or simply acting on impulses.
there is something quintessentially british about this album co-written by martina, steve crittal, alex macgowan and her brother, nick bird. not in a blur, oasis sort of way but in the way it veers between alternative punk rock to soulful blues with a constant nod to inner-city sensibilities. it’s eclectic and yet complete, martina is at once both indie rock chick, soul sister and raconteur. it’s an album that you may find yourself listening to over again, one of those records that just get better each time you play it.
“need one”, the debut single off the album, features martina’s unmistakable voice over guitar riffs by josh homme with additional vocals from mark lenegan resulting in a brilliant, vaguely beatlesque slice of alt rock. “soulfood” is a sumptuous journey thru blues to gospel demonstrating the diversity of martina’s vocal talent, seductive and compelling. “too tough to die” could best be described as “country-urban” with a hypnotic fuzz guitar leading an insistent beat with dub effect, martina delivers a lyrical story influenced by the experiences of her ancestors in america. “ragga” features evidence of tricky’s lyrical interventions interspersing with martina’s smooth, sexy and beguiling vocal. “days of the gun”, which has a string arrangement by composer, david arnold, is hauntingly beautiful with a moving, evocative performance by martina reminiscent of a nascent kate bush without the high pitched wailing.
to top it all, the record is mixed by tchad blake (travis, elvis costello, los lobo’s, latin playboys), jake davis (mel c, bjork, beth orton, sophie ellis-bextor) and hugo nicholson (of primal scream). the record was mostly recorded at macgowan’s studio in fulham with parts at tricky’s house in new jersey.
if your ears have atrophied from listening to all that over produced r’n’b, hip hop or demographically targeted ‘urban’ vibes, they’ll enjoy being exercised by this album that has all the hallmarks of a classic.
got bandwidth? watch the video for 'need one'
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visit martina's website
buy the album for Ł8.99
this interview also appears in the ammo city section of trace magazine
heard the album? let us know what you think in the citizens forum
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