MARTHA AND THE MUFFINS – WHERE BLUE MEETS GREEN (BALEARIC EDITS)

It’s not surprising that this album was conceived on a holiday trip to Ibiza. En route, in the plane, the two sound wizards Martin “ez” Fekl and TC Sunshine sipped cocktails as they planned all the scenarios, dreaming of sunny chillouts on the Balearic island – inspired by the sound of the Canadian New Wave band Martha And The Muffins.

They successfully pitched their idea to the original rights owners with a cheeky mix of exuberance and persuasion, and out came a tipsy album that sounds hot, happy and deep. The air is redolent with the scent of the iconic perfume of the Eighties, “Lagerfeld”; the beats are sweet and slightly sticky. Above this heady mix float thick layers of edits, bringing everything together in a thick chug of timeless melancholy and the boxy-shouldered charm of the Eighties. For example, the distinctive sound of the Stick bass, which was incredibly popular with the decade’s musicians, including Tony Levin (bass player for King Crimson and Peter Gabriel), and which now forms a vital alliance with the clever, booming New Wave Pop of Martha And The Muffins.

The band from Toronto had a massive hit with ECHO BEACH in 1980. The song was written by Mark Gane, the band’s main songwriter at the time, and the infectious melody was made immortal through the vocals of his partner, singer Martha Johnson. The band has had illustrious support from session musicians such as drummer Yogi Horton ( B52´s, John Lennon, David Byrne ) and bass player Tinker Barfield (Lou Rawls, Billy Ocean, Ray Charles, Luther Vandross), who injected a dash of funk into the band’s mid-eighties tracks. Three albums were produced by Daniel Lanois (who also produced U2, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno and others) and David Lord (producer for Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, etc.). Martha And The Muffins’ (later M+M) Wave Pop features impassioned musicianship, punchy riffs, frenetic melodies and out-of-the-ordinary lyrics, stylishly navigating between personal contemplation and artistic vision.

The album W.B.M.G. was written and produced over a period of four years, and is based on the oeuvre of the band around Mark Gane and Martha Johnson. It flirts with the idea of being a positive-vibes holiday soundtrack for Balearic, retro and revival fans with a smattering of Eighties style. Anyone who grew up in this decade will have fully absorbed sparkling, funky dance pop and will also appreciate the soulful slow tracks, the grand choruses and the mantra-like verses. The album floats, surfs and grazes on the band’s history, occasionally landing in the Slow Core Chillout zone, uniting Ambient and Pop… low key and deeply charming.