MARTINA TOPLEY-BIRD

MARTINA TOPLEY-BIRD

In a recent interview in the Guardian, Martina Topley-Bird expounded on her current touring duties with Massive Attack, which involves being one of several singers in their, well, massive show and also acting as the opening act, where she sings, plays various instruments, and is accompanied by one person, a guy named Ninja who plays guitar, drums, and kalimba. The songs are quiet and soulful, making for quite a contrast with MA’s huge production.

She’ll be doing both at Fuji as well, though her solo set will be restricted to a stage that makes more sense, Gypsy Avalon, on Sunday afternoon. Though Martina has released material under her own name in the past, she’s only recently started playing concerts as a solo act. Apparently, it was something of a survival tactic. “A lot of people knew me only as a singer and didn’t realise I could play instruments as well,” she told the Guardian. Then Damon Albarn saw her perform and not only offered her his studio to record her songs, but released the resulting album, Some Place Simple, on his own label, Honest Jon’s.

It’s a far cry from her emotionally fraught trip-hop work with her old flame (and father of her 15-year-old daughter) Tricky. Simplicity is certainly the watchword for the music, and the singing, too. As she said in the interview, she’s never quite fit in with “what popular music is” at any given moment. Mainly, she’s thinking of R&B, or at least “urban” music. The songs on Some Place Simple are sui generis, even though many of them are songs she’s done before for other people; folky soul in the Bill Withers or Terry Callier style. Of course, if you want to hear her in smokey, druggy club mode then just stick around for Massive Attack. It isn’t who she is, but it probably pays the bills better.

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