Martina Topley-Bird is back, with a new album Forever I Wait released in September and co-produced with Robert Del Naja aka 3D from Massive Attack. Lots of media interest, including NME, reporting that this is Martina's first album in over a decade. That particular album, Some Place Simple, mainly featured reworkings of songs from her first two albums, so it's actually her first album of new material since 2007's The Blue God.
Like most, I first heard Martina on Tricky's groundbreaking single Aftermath but I am also a huge fan of her solo material. Her first album Quixotic was a patchwork of styles and producers, the sound of an artist finding their identity. The Blue God, produced by Danger Mouse, is a cohesive and outstanding album that I keep coming back to. Some Place Simple, released on Damon Albarn's Honest Jon's Records in 2010, stripped back the songs to great effect.
The lead single from Forever I Wait is Pure Heart, with a rumbling, sinister bassline and guitar chords typical of latter day Massive Attack, but of course it's Martina's voice that carries the song.
2021 is shaping up to be an great year, with excellent albums from Jane Weaver, The Anchoress (Catherine Anne Davies) and more to come from Dot Allison, Kelsey Lu (hopefully) and Martina Topley-Bird.
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