Never one to back away from sheer spectacle, London-based artist Martha Skye Murphy has gathered quite the ensemble for her latest song. “Concrete” features NYC duo LEYA as well as Simon Raymonde of the Cocteau Twins playing bass.
What they’ve created is nothing short of hypnotic, a bracing, all-consuming precious few moments. Written from the perspective of a kidnapper to the hostage they adore, suffice to say, it’s not a light affair. Murphy shares, “using my surrounding city environment in its constant developing yet abandoned state, and nodding to the visual language of video games, I wanted the film for ‘Concrete’ to turn a static building in its harsh location from something stoic and functional into a charged site of dysfunctional memory. This concrete block can become anything you wanted, saw, imprisoned, thought or lost, it can be past or present, real or imagined. Thinking of Edward Burtynsky’s harrowing aerial photographs of large scale industrial waste and short films such as The Black Tower by John Smith, I wanted to comment on the capacity for spaces to host, entrap and influence feeling.“
Full of dramatic, serene strings and encircling, gorgeous vocals, the song gradually comes to a sudden crashing conclusion, all but demanding repeated plays. Go ahead, try and listen just once.
Check out “Concrete” below, along with its video, co-directed by Nina Porter and Murphy herself, and stay tuned for more from Martha Skye Murphy soon.
“Concrete” is out on Practise Music. You can find Martha Skye Murphy on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
