Billie Marten, Feeding Seahorses By Hand - album review
At just 19 years old, Billie Marten has already released her sophomore record and is looking at expanding her sound.
At a time when many of us are just concentrating on university, weekend jobs and getting hammered, Billie has been touring, writing and recording, while trying to get her A-levels done too.
For someone who has spent a large part of her recent life travelling the country with others, this record manages to evoke a comfortingly claustrophobic feeling thanks largely to being recorded on four track tape in the Bath home of producer Ethan John.
Dusky vocals, understated guitars and soft percussion pedal the material from start to finish. If you want intimate, Billie provides it by the bucket.
The raw, coming-of-age nature of her lyrics feel safe. For those who, like Billie, are shaping their own path through life this may provide some reassuring measures during tough times.
Mice is one track where those vocal arms are stretched around you for a huge cwtch. You can sit back and relax as Billie croons around you with her delicate voice rising and falling nonchalently through the carefree chorus.
The pounding percussion to Toulouse makes for a more striding track that sounds like Billie is marching off on an adventure and wants you alongside her. The hopeful choruses are strong yet soft, and showcase how she can alter the strength of her voice in a nanosecond to change emotion.
It's not all serious and wistful, either. There are some pleasantly foot-tapping tracks included to lighten the mood from deep thinking to life living. Blue Sea, Red Sea - while lyrically wary - couples a thwonking bass with her delicately plucked guitars, and sliding electrics are added during the chorus to increase the dancing vibrancy of the track.
The larger, more wholesome feel to Betsy is one moment where Billie seems to reach out from her acoustic bubble and dally with the world as a whole.
If she continues in this vain - while perhaps adding more variety as she develops her sound further - her bubble could be pretty large in a few years.
Rating: 6/10
Billie Marten plays at Birmingham's Hare & Hounds on June 5
