Album Reviews

Martha drummer Nathan Stephens-Griffin said about “Blisters On The Pit Of My Heart” that it is ‘for everyone who leads a secret double life’. He’s not talking about all you latex fetishists out there (whatever floats your boat!), but rather about those of you who hold down a day job only to pursue their true passion at night. Oh wait, that could still be applied to latex fetishists.

Anyway, this UK bunch plays the kind of indie rock meets pop-punk that comes with an extremely high instant likeability factor. There’s just something incredibly endearing about tracks like opening track “Christine”, “Chekhov’s Hangnail” and “The Awkward Ones”. But somehow they still manage to put plenty of energy in these tracks along with big hooks and buzzing guitars. If you’ve heard 2014’s “Courting Strong”, you know what to expect… they pretty much stick to the same formula here, but wrote even better songs this time around and sound more confident than ever.

These songs bounce all over the place, are named after a Russian playwright just as easily as after the lead singer of the Replacements and so full of life and urgency that they make this cynical 36-year-old feel 20 years younger again. Make sure to pick this one up, because in a world as shitty as the one we live in now, we sure can use more bands like Martha.