In Conversation With #155 - MarthaGunn
Brighton five-piece MarthaGunn have just released their debut album ‘Something Good Will Happen’ via Communion. Their new album documents how the band are navigating the relationships of their 20s - the highs with the lows, the failures and successes. They took a moment to talk to us about love and how the album came together.
Hey MarthaGunn - how are you? So your debut album is finally here, how does it feel to have it out there in the world?
Hey! Right now we are on top of the world! It’s hard to put into words what we are feeling right now. To be releasing our first album is such a moment for us all. I feel like we have worked towards this our whole lives. I also keep having this thought that we’ve created something that will most likely out live any of us. This album will be on the earth long after we are gone and that’s pretty crazy.
It is titled ‘Something Good Will Happen’ - what is the meaning behind that?
Since we all met, I’ve had an expression, ‘Good things happen when it rains’. During the time we were thinking up album names Humphrey and I were on a rainy car journey, we both are huge Kate Bush fans, the song ‘Cloubusting’ (our favourite) came on. The album title was born out of both my expression and the lyric "I just know that something good is gunna happe"’. It’s a nice nod to her.
It also felt right. There is a theme in the album of persevering. Even though something might be bad, it won’t always be. It’s optimistic. Something good will happen. Say it to yourself and see how quickly your day changes.
Where was the album recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the creative process you are happy to share with us?
We recorded the album deep in rural Devon at a studio called MiddleFarm. We recorded over a month with a wonderful producer and person, Eliot James. It was the summer of 2020, we had a window in between lock downs. So much work had gone into making the songs, it was really beautiful to go away to this dreamy environment and bring this record to life. During the process of making 'Undone', we had less of a clear vision. We hadn’t felt as though our live version captured the emotion properly. Humph locked himself away in a side studio for a day and what he came back with completely reimagined the song. We ended up repeating this with a lot of the album songs. It challenged our idea of what MarthaGunn was. We had lots of time to experiment. It was a very freeing time creatively. There were a few lines within various songs that Eliot our producer had asked me to re-write. I would take myself off to the studio next door and spend time by myself figuring out new lines. There was a line in see you again “Every night I wake up, in panic that you’re married now”, It just wasn’t flowing properly, and although it said everything I wanted, I had to change it for the song to work. After spending a few hours singing various options, I finally landed on “I said I never needed your love but I need it now”.
There is a big topic of love on the album, especially when it comes to the heartbreak side of it. Was that intentional? And did it feel like a healing process
For sure, it’s a culmination of the experiences of a bunch of people going through their twenties. It wasn’t intentional to begin with, but I had a lot I still needed to process from past relationships. As the songs started to build, I realised they were all sharing a similar theme, so I decided to write the last few with that in mind. Writing these songs, I wanted to be as honest as I could be. There are some very vulnerable moments on the record. I wanted to lay myself bare, and in doing so, there was a definite healing that took place.
What are the key themes and influences on the album?
I couldn’t answer this question with out mentioning the Haim sisters. They reminded me of the fun in songwriting. Finding them really helped me find the voice of this record. We are all drawing from so many places, other influences include, Prince, Lizzo and James Blake to name a few. We spent a long time figuring out the production of the album, we wanted to step away from being so guitar focused. There are so many possibilities.
Do you have a favourite lyric on the album? If so, which one and why?
On ‘Lost in the Moment’ I felt I was the most vulnerable I have ever been in a song. I feel like that was a real moment for me. I felt uncomfortable at first showing it to anyone but I’ve learnt that when you feel uncomfortable in saying something, it is often the most important thing for you to say.
Now the album is out there, what next for you?
Touring! We want to play everywhere we possibly can! We’ve been starved of playing live for two years so now we are ready to tour. I can’t wait to bring this record on the road.