REFLECTION AND LOVE DEFINED IN BILLIE MARTEN’S “DROP CHERRIES”
BY LIAM GILLIN (He/Him)As we enter the spring comes time for album releases in which the music is fulfilled with peace and remedy. Drop Cherries is the newest record release from Billie Marten. The Yorkshire singer-songwriter embodies fondness as 13 songs navigate the listener through Billie’s heart in the journey of love.
“New Idea” is a unique opening song to the album. Billie’s melodic guitar playing accompanied by her gentle hums demonstrates to the listener how Drop Cherries will be an album about looking within and channeling the importance of finding comfort in being alone in order to understand what love means and how that can manifest.
The strengths of the album comes down to Marten’s strong lyricism abilities accompanied by vivid imagery. The leading single “I Can’t Get My Head Around You” is a song that can be interpreted as the complications of romantic attachment styles. The lyrics “I have some fears, I'm born with ideas to run from the heat of someone, But I'll never rest and I won't forget thе taste of my morning sun” encapsulate this the rollercoaster that is falling in love, pushing away that feeling, and ultimately fighting to have that secure attachment style.
“I Bend To Him” is a vignette of the defining unrequited love. Billie Marten soft and gentle vocals on this song are carried through simple synths on the keyboard. “I blame him first. For the hunger and the thirst. For loving his worst. I blame him first” These lyrics ultimately grab one by the heartstrings as it describes how truly exhausting it can be to chase someone.
Billie Marten uses Drop Cherries to advise listeners on what matters most in love, which is the ability to reflect and learn from previous experiences in order to bring in a healthy love. The warmth that is Drop Cherries sets this folk album different from the rest in today’s music. This is a strong fourth album from Marten as it shows her growth in music and constantly remaining authentic in her work.