Martha

This song is taken from our new album 'Please Don't Take Me Back', which comes out on 28th October 2022, via Specialist Subject and Dirtnap records. Preorder at www.martha-punx.com or from your favourite record shop. “‘Baby, Does Your Heart Sink’ is just your classic break-up song, but one designed to be played at the disco at the end of the world. If there are multiple timelines, worlds, and universes out there, you’ve really got to wonder how things are going in the others, don’t you?”

"Martha’s previous work sounds like the lovechild of Los Campesinos! and Blink-182, and thankfully, that spirit is kept in the new track, too."
The Fader

"Cuts the weight of austerity with good-natured humour and a catchy sing-along melody"
Pitchfork

"Enthralling and multi-faceted"
The Line of Best Fit

"Grab yourself a bowl, throw in a cup of Belle and Sebastian’s lyricism, a dash of The Smiths’ kitchen sink realism, sprinkle some smouldering J Mascis riffs and you’ll get something close to Martha."
CLASH
 
"Evocative, character-driven songs with killer hooks and radical politics”
Rolling Stone
 

Durham indiepop-punks Martha have announced their return, with their fourth album ‘Please Don’t Take Me Back’ out 28^th October on Specialist Subject Records. Following on from the standalone single of the same name shared in May this year, today they release a brand new single and video featuring Ross Millard of the Futureheads – ‘Baby, Does Your Heart Sink’. The video sees the band auditioning to finally try and make some headway in the music industry. Unfortunately, they find the judges aren't as interested as they might have hoped. Alongside Millard, the video features Michael McKnight of Frankie and the Heartstrings, Mehzeb Chowdhury and Elf Kingdon.
 
Talking about the new track, Martha said: “‘Baby, Does Your Heart Sink’ is just your classic break-up song, but one designed to be played at the disco at the end of the world. If there are multiple timelines, worlds, and universes out there, you’ve really got to wonder how things are going in the others, don’t you?”
 
Shot at Sunderland’s Pop Recs, the band have dedicated the video to the community music venue’s co-founder Dave Harper who sadly passed away last year. The video was directed by Martha’s drummer, Nathan Stephens-Griffin, who added: "this was the first time we'd all been together as a band for a while, and it was a really fun day. Pop Recs is a brilliant thing, and we want to support as much as possible - everyone should visit when they get a chance. We'll be doing our Northeast album launch on that very same stage in early December and we can't wait. Hopefully the people watching are more into it on the night though! It was also extremely cool to get to direct a video featuring a Futurehead and a Heartstring!"
 
While their previous record - 2019’s Love Keeps Kicking - saw them remaining defiant in a world that seemed to be breaking apart, new album Please Don’t Take Me Back explores the scattered fragments of what followed and tries to make sense of how we navigate the smoking remains. The record also sees Martha joining forces with Bristol-based Specialist Subject Records for the first time since their split 7” with Radiator Hospital back in 2015.
 
First formed in the small village of Pity Me, Durham, in 2011, Martha released their debut EP the following year on guitarist Jonathan Cairns’ DIY label, Discount Horse. Tours on both sides of the Atlantic soon followed, along with two albums for the UK’s much missed indie pop stable Fortuna Pop: 2014’s Courting Strong (also released in the United States by Salinas Records) and 2016’s sophomore effort Blisters In The Pit of My Heart (via Dirtnap Records in the US). In the meantime, the band became figureheads for the UK’s DIY pop scene by balancing their obvious talents with a clear set of ethics - anti-capitalist, first and foremost - and an open-hearted warmth that’s often absent from the foreground of punk rock.
 
Please Don’t Take Me Back is a fine addition to Martha’s discography; their most life-affirming yet and a welcome ripple of light at a time when it’s often difficult to see past the darkness. Listen and love: the beat perpetual drives on.