Description
Standard LP is coloured vinyl LP (Mustard Yellow), Indie store only coloured vinyl LPX is Blue with Orange splatters.
Martha return with their second album. Produced again by MJ from Hookworms, the album explores the difficulties in staying political, staying passionate and staying punk over the course of eleven expertly crafted pop songs.
Hailing from Pity Me near Durham, Martha play energetic, impassioned power pop with intricate vocal interplay and lush four-part harmonies, informed by 90s indie rock and contemporary garage punk. The band is comprised of J. Cairns (guitar), Daniel Ellis (guitar), Naomi Griffin (bass), and Nathan Stephens Griffin (drums).
All four members sing and write the songs. Daniel and Nathan also play in Onsind, while Naomi also plays in No Ditching. Their debut album Courting Strong came out in 2014 and was included in NPRs top 50 albums of that year, winning them the epithet One of Britains best rock bands. If the bands first album, Courting Strong, was about punks growing up, then Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart is about grown-ups staying punk. Its an album about trying to stay creative and passionate and making the most of everything in spite of the many obstacles that get in the way. Its about finding strength and solace in friendships, love, and taking motivation from the people in your life who really inspire you. Taking inspiration from such likely and unlikely sources as The Replacements, Heart, Billy Bragg, Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick, The Go-Gos and Radiator Hospital, the album bursts into life with Christine, a love song filtered through the messiness of anxiety and night terror that takes inspiration from Threads, the British TV drama of the 1980s about nuclear war, and is followed by the rousing Chekhovs Hangnail, with backing vocals from Ellis Jones of Trust Fund. The catchy Precarious (The Supermarket Song) finds romance in the washing powder aisle, while Goldmans Detective Agency shows the bands playful side as they re-imagine 19th century anarchist Emma Goldman as a private eye vanquishing corrupt cops and politicians.
Nearly every song here is a potential single, from the infectious Do Whatever and 11:45, Legless In Brandon to outsider anthem The Awkward Ones and the Billy Bragg / Coronation Street-referencing Curly and Raquel. The album concludes with St Pauls (Westerberg Comprehensive), a song about being caught up in the toxic culture of a Catholic comprehensive school. Its for the kids who had the guts to be queer at school and for those who didnt figure themselves out until they got out of school.
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