Last time we heard from singer songwriter Billie Marten was back in September when she released the delightfully morbid track ‘Mice’. She returns with ‘Blue Sea, Red Sea’, which sees her feeling equally dejected and out of sorts but fortunately this is the zone from which she writes her most poignant songs. Speaking of ‘Blue Sea, Red Sea’, she says:
“I get S.A.D disorder real bad so my head was a bit blue. I decided to sit and write the happiest, simplest pop song I could. I was really missing my family at the time and felt like I needed to fall into a clear blue sea or something. I liked the idea of the Jewish pilgrimage to the Dead Sea, where salt strips your skin clean and everything is new again.”
This combination of forcing herself to write a happy song when in a low mood has created an interesting result; like sun shining through rain to create a rainbow, ‘Blue Sea, Red Sea’ manages to capture a broad spectrum of feelings and colours. Billie Marten’s imagery and thoughts flip from the beautiful to the hollow on a moment’s notice: “snow is falling heavy/ wish my mother would come and get me.” These varied emotions ping pong around the flutteringly gorgeous track, until she reaches the carefree “la la la” chorus that carries away in a stream of weary satisfaction.
The Fat Angel Sings 