M. - 2 releases

Two from a guy called M. - that have been waiting a while for a guernsey: sorry. The first Lucy Y Fer was recorded at the turn of the decade. It shows two f the typical features of a first album - some more obvious display of influences (the opening tracks in particular are recognisable industrial) but also a diversity as the backed up writing finds its outlet. Both albums have a focus on sex/sexual politics, more obviously in the second, but a title like Feminine boy is an indicator. There are 4 short interludes which divide the album into acts or scenes. The first two tracks, Where the day takes you and Feminine boy are driving and enjoyable industrial/heavy metal with balance between melodic chorus or components (an OOOOO line through the first), guitar breaks, wah-wah solo, drawled vocals. A great start. Interlude:light crackles and electronics, distant voice, then we rock into The voice in me with burbling synth and string chorus and then an interlude of tuned percussion and cello. Restrained backing, vocoder effects build in the haunting Piano is followed by A poet's seat over a soundscape 'don't try to comprehend any of this ... it comes from him'. The slow burning Star then an Interlude of playful children. The skin heals has strings, melotron like synths and is a strong work; an acoustic guitar short song, Interlude:desafinado before the pressure builds again in The end..the dream with weird calliope, cracked insdustrial rhythms, heavy guitar and lust. An interesting first album with attractive variety. M.'s voice could be a problem, as at times it reminds me of Weird Al Yankovic, but it is not unappealing and is nicely placed in the mix.

What probably held me back was the second album L'amour ext mort. This is quite a 'concept' album based on transgression and sexual politics. It is focussed and presented up close and personal. The vocal is to the front of the mix and at this level M.'s voice is a weakness, sometimes flat and a distraction. The opening song Lies in your eyes continues the strong musical direction of the first album - dark analog synths; Adam slows with guitar and dark ambinece, though Miss Zina (baise moi) has a nice drive and catchy chorus. As the album progresses the musical side is strong - slow buring guitar ambience in The motel-room song, dark foreboding in The story of joy, degredation and incest to the bloopy synth of Mother's milk, simple guitar and processed spoken vocals Goodby, swirling radio, guitar figures and a sample that exacerbates weakness in Baton rouge all develop the mood of the album. This is broken by a coda about how to draw a heart (F.B.) that slides into guitar and piano. This is a hard album to get into, but a very 'brave' one - it exposes M.'s vulnerabiulities both personaly and musically. It is a difficult second album based very definitely on honesty and strong feelings. It is not as immediately accessible as Lucy but has strengths of its own. I look forward to a third album that combines the musical variety of the first album with the intensity of the second - that will be an amazing release.

The best link I could find for M. is cdbaby.com/cd/mmusic and cdbaby.com/cd/mmusic2
But now I have been advised that M. has a website www.marthyn.com