The majesty & mindfulness of Meagre Martin
The marvelous pop dimension of Meagre Martin; photographed by Andrea Rojas.
In celebration of their debut album Gut Punch for the highly revered imprint Mansions & Millions — Berlin by way of New York upstarts Meagre Martin present a mood board of contemporary inspo for Week in Pop. The trio of Sarah Martin, Federic "Freddy" Corazzi and Max Hirtz-Wolf create a cycle of sentiments, lush and earnest sounds, streams of unrelenting thoughts as American ex-pats exploring the existential extents of identity, purpose and more. Gut Punch is a beautiful presentation of self-actualization in the western world of our modern age, the contemporary conundrums we grapple with on a daily/nightly basis, songs of self-reflection and honest examinations of how we find meaning and reasoning in the strangeness and surreality of systems beyond us, our societies, our scenes, ourselves.
"Intro" begins the Gut Punch experience in an oscillating array of effects, electric keys and the band's voices that materialize into the mix of the echoing ether. Elegant strings drape the reminiscence of "Mountain" that moves in ways from the inward emotive process of thoughts that portray intimate moments and a sacred bond shared with a special someone. Meagre Martin's spirited style of vibrancy runs high and wonderfully wild on "TBD (The Big Death)" that races toward the notion of embracing the endless energy of immortality. The shimmering guitar tones the three thrive on creates an endearing warmth that makes everything feel brighter and better with every strum that lingers in a heavenly harmonic resonance. "Wonderwall" (not the one you might be thinking of) gently drives into the privy places of the most guarded sectors of self-consciousness and heart, the places were needs, wants and painfully self-aware shortcomings are usually kept under strict lock and key.
That inner sphere of meditations carries forth on the manifestations on "All My Thoughts" that battles fears and concerns in the arena of the mind in a fiery yet floral delivery fit for the festival mainstages and amphitheaters of the world. Martin and company have the magic ability to transport the audience into the zeitgeist of the human id while making it completely accessible, and dare we say even 'radio friendly,' on the cutting desires to be loved and wanted on the wrenching and all too real "Please Clap" (a title that evokes the much meme'd Jeb Bush moment). Aspects and items of skewed idealism is strummed and sung on "Manic Pixie Dream Girl", positioning and adapting pensive reflective trajectories into balladry as further heard on "Pause", as well as the cloak and cool anthem of the mighty “Undercover”. Empirical conceits of American exceptionalism are lampooned and interrogated proper on "Amerika" that lays bare the limitations of colonialist prowess and its failed promises, as the album brings it all back home with the "Outro" that sweetly rocks the audience like a babe in arms to the soft lullaby recitations of 'I've been thinking about you...' Experience the autumnal surrender to absolute expressions of unrelenting actualization of the soul, followed by an exclusive exploration of interests courtesy of the Meagre Martin trio:
Sarah, Freddy & Max of Meagre Martin present portraits of pop moods
The majesty of Meagre Martin (from left), Federic "Freddy" Corazzi, Max Hirtz-Wolf & Sarah Martin; photographed by Andrea Rojas.
Lomelda, “Hannah Sun”
We love this song because it's such a subtle beautiful buildup, that really captures you. It's a pretty wild song, especially because it's quite simple but the melody is so catchy and even with super simple movements it's one of our favorite songs.
Smash Mouth, “Waste”
Freddy — To begin with, the way it goes from mono to stereo is amazing, it's an amazing surprise. The instrumentation is really well chosen and produced. There's so many acoustic instruments, and weird 60s organs. It's a track that's way ahead of it's time, indie rock before indie rock existed.
Fleetwood Mac, “Only Over You”
Max — This song really builds an incredible production with amazing single elements to create a very special scene that uses all sorts of sick sonic tricks, and also uses a lot of tension and release for example the way the verse and the chorus balance each other which I really like. They made a clock sound out of guitars, how crazy is that?
Big Thief, “Spud Infinity”
Sarah - I personally love this song because it's one of their most silly songs. It's a very I don't give a fuck, I'm having fun type of song. I took so many catch phrases that I say on a day to day basis from this song like that's my grandma! I feel like you can really hear everyone in the room and feel that they're super good friends, and they fight against overproduction of the tracks. That's a spirit we try to embody within our music making.
Michael O'Mahony, “Electricity”
We really bonded over this track during one of our most recent tours. We kept playing it to hype ourselves up on our way to the next shows. It made us feel really good. We love that music can be light, casual, and fun. The production of the track also feels really fresh.
Meagre Martin’s Gut Punch is available now via Mansions & Millions.
Catch them on the following tour dates:
November
10 - Austin, TX @ Stubbs Waller Creek Amphitheater * (sold out)
11 - Austin, TX @ Coral Snake (album release party)
13 - Dallas, TX @ House of Blues - Dallas *
14 - Dallas, TX @House of Blues - Dallas *
15 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall *
16 - New Orleans, LA @ Joy Theater *
18 - Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed *
19 - Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed *
20 - Toronto, ON @ HISTORY *
21 - Toronto, ON @ HISTORY *
24 - Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern *
25 - Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern *
26 - Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works *
27 - Kansas City, MO @ The Midland Theater *
29 - Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom *
December
1 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo * (sold out)
2 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo * (sold out)
3 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo *
5 - Portland, OR @ Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall *
February
1 - Berlin, DE @ Urban Spree (album release party)
* supporting Alt-J