<strong>Martha</strong>: "I hope there's some hope in there"
Though things have been feeling somewhat apocalyptic of late, Martha aren't ready to soundtrack the end of the world quite yet. With their fourth full-l...
Though things have been feeling somewhat apocalyptic of late, Martha aren't ready to soundtrack the end of the world quite yet. With their fourth full-length, 'Please Don't Take Me Back', the Durham power-pop quartet are back to do what they do best: turn despair into joyous defiance.
"I think we've always been about despair: the first track on our first album is called 'Cosmic Misery', so that was a prologue to everything," laughs guitarist and vocalist Jonathan Cairns (aka. JC).
Take a quick glance at the track list for 'Please Don't Take Me Back', with song titles such as 'Every Day The Hope Gets Harder' and 'Total Cancellation of the Future', and you may be inclined to think that Martha have chosen to lean further into the abyss, but drummer and vocalist Nathan Stephens-Griffin insists they remain buoyant.
"I hope there is some hope in there. There's a song called 'I Didn't Come Here To Surrender', there's 'Beat, Perpetual' - these are songs about keeping going. It felt more and more surreal and weird to make music when there's a pandemic killing millions of people and trying to tour and release an album when there's a Cost of Living crisis; there are so many weird contradictions. But the point is that we should do it: we need music, and we need art and friendship and all the things that this band has brought us."





