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Marta Per
Favourite Way of Existing
Favourite Way of Existing completely took us by surprise last week - we covered the phenomenal jazz / funk / pop mélange of the single “Putting Our Wishes to Sleep” but missed the news that it would be part of an EP.
As it turns out, Londoner-by-way-of-Lisbon Marta Per has put together one of the most spectacular releases of the year to date in this 5 track gem.
Marta is one of the most talented composers in the indie world right now, bringing a universe of influences to bear, and tying all of them together with a soft-but-powerful vocal delivery and a classic melodic sensibility that alternately sounds like it would be at home in a 70’s TV soundtrack, onstage at Carnegie Hall, or in Montreux during Jazz Fest.
She comes out of the gate here with the intoxicating “Shrink”, something of a progressive retro pop number, with dreamy half time breaks and a wildly catchy refrain featuring layered vocal parts and a wicked piano groove.
“Putting Our Wishes to Sleep” follows immediately, equally groovy but more guitar-driven, with a quirky chorus that takes us by surprise every time we hear it.
We slow things down with the gorgeous “Caught by Surprise”, which gives us a chance to mellow in Marta Per’s lyrical gifts - no small element, here, even if you may not fixate on this from the first listen.
Every element of these arrangements is damn near flawless. This is professional grade work on par with anything you’ll find. The subtle dynamic shifts as “Surprise” dives into the sultry, hypnotic chorus - and the fake-out lift at the end of the second chorus before we get yanked back off the shore into the guitar solo - are masterstrokes.
Finally, yet another unique groove completes the collection on “Sweet & Sour” - and yet another instantly memorable, jaw-dropping chorus. By the time you’ve finished taking a tour of this EP it’s going to be hard to come up with any reason why Marta Per shouldn’t be playing on the biggest stages.
We were constantly thinking of various pop-star breakthroughs that teased the possibility of mainstream culture embracing something a bit more sophisticated, more jazz-adjacent - the emergence of Norah Jones, the early days of Alicia Keys… not that this music is comparable to either stylistically (Marta Per, for lack of a better descriptor, fucking rocks in a way neither of those acts really tried to).
But that’s the cultural tier Marta Per belongs in. This is a truly exceptional piece of work.
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