INTERVIEW: Martha Hill

Debut albums are often a long time coming for fans, and Football Heid by Martha Hill is no different. The Newcastle-based singer-songwriter has gained a vast amount of supporters across her impressive career, and is finally gifting them with a longform project. “It feels good to finally put a full length album out. Especially to have done it independently and on my own terms.” She says.

Martha’s album follows previous EP Dog Hearted Man and silhouettes all of its signature charm, whilst showcasing new, exciting and undoubtedly important songwriting. It comes at a time in which she has taken an active step back from the toxic expectation-based parts of the music industry, and is using this album to protest against the idea of having to sell yourself like a product to claim any form of success.

This trails into the choice of Martha’s to re-record two of her previously released tracks, Right Out My Head and In My Future, and repurpose them into this album, rightfully claiming them as her own. “It was a Taylor Swift moment really. I wanted the whole album to be mine and on my own terms. The previous recordings of these singles belong to my old record label, and seeing as my music doesn’t do particularly well financially, I’m very far off owning those recordings myself. This way the whole album is mine.”

I wanted the whole album to be mine and on my own terms

Martha wrote and produced the entirety of Football Heid herself, which is a hugely impressive feat. Every instrument was played by Martha, with the exception of longtime collaborator Ceitidh Mac on cello. “I produced it working with engineer John Martindale at Blank Studios. The whole album was done in six days. Some tracks were done live, one was done after just the first take. I wanted to capture the vibe and not overthink or overwork it.”

The rusticity of the recording process reflects the rawness of the words presented across the album; even the titles can be gutting and surprising, such as opener Everyone Is Perfect Except Me and closer I’m So Loved But It All Washes Off. Thematically the project is explorative and fascinating, and you’ll pick up on more cleverness each time you listen. “It’s mostly about loss.” Martha reveals. “Loss of dreams, loss of sense of self, or career, or people we love, the loss of carrots to carrot fly… the biggies.”

And you might be wondering what all of these delightfully articulated thoughts have to do with football… “Fitbaw Heid is a daft Scottish insult and the first single was called Football so it just happened. I’m not great at naming things.” It sounds as though the title fell just as naturally as the recording process, and it’s truly a great thing to behold. With cynical lyricism and artfully varied instrumentation which veers across guitar, cello and even trombone, there’s nothing not to love.

And if you, as I suspect, do love Football Heid, you can go and see it performed live at The Grove in Newcastle on Saturday 9^th November. “It’s gonna be ace! Getting the old band back together, even my old drummer DIJI is supporting us, as well as good pal Ruth Lyon. I probably won’t be playing another gig again for a while, definitely not full band anyway, so if you’re keen to catch us while you can I’d come along!”

Martha Hill releases Football Heid on 18^th October. She performs at The Grove, Newcastle on Saturday 9^th November.