Writing music can be hard. Writing music with far fewer years of experience may prove harder, but not for 16-year-old singer/songwriter Billie Marten.
The Yorkshire soloist has been writing songs for her latest EP, As Long As, admirably between studying for her GCSEs. Take that and another EP released last year (Ribbon, which saw airplay from the likes of BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6 Music, to name a few) and Marten’s creative output truly seems to belie her age.
On “Bird” we hear much of what of what the blogosphere has praised her for: a breathy, angelic vocal that resonates far beyond the notes it leaves behind. Here, poignant piano walks beneath Marten’s lyrics: “Hope is a distance unreached / ink on her skin incomplete / and the faint sound of friends / as she neared to the end she had peace”). It’s “a song about how words can truly affect people, not always for the right reasons”, she explains.
“Bird” appears on Billie Marten’s forthcoming EP, As Long As, released digitally via Chess Club Records released on (10” vinyl) .
The Fat Angel Sings 