Q&A MARTIN GRECH
English singer-songwriter and TesseracT collaborator Martin Grech returns with an unexpected fourth album that of art rock.
Words: Dom Lawson Portrait: Rebecca Need-Menear
Best known for the haunting Open Heart Zoo, a song he wrote when he was 15 and which was later used to flog expensive cars, alt-prog icon Martin Grech has re-emerged with a new studio album. His fourth full-length, Hush Mortal Core, has appeared from nowhere, after 13 years of relative silence, and confirms that the inscrutable singer-songwriter has lost none of his idiosyncratic verve or knack for writing wildly emotional and adventurous music. Prog spoke with the elusive ingenue about the new record, his status as a modern prog artist and what it’s like to be a certified enigma.
Thirteen years is a long time! How do you explain the gap between studio albums?
It really is a long time isn’t it? I always feel like making a new record, I have one right now that I want to make. To me, Hush Mortal Core feels like album six more than four. There were so many phases of writing and groups of songs in that 13-year gap. I would say a major factor contributing toward my absence would be my lack of tenacity when it comes to making things happen. I have never been that driven to share my music and have never believed that the world needs Martin Grech. The way I see it, everybody will have a favourite album that gets them through the harsh times, whether they ever hear of me or not.