Martin Luke Brown  - man oh man!

Following both his 2023 debut album ‘damn, look at the view’ and his work as part of indie pop supergroup FIZZ (alongside Orla Gartland, dodie and Greta Isaac), ‘man oh man!’ sees Martin Luke Brown finally slow down to reflect and find peace in simple things. Described by the Leicester-born, London-based artist as a ‘time capsule’, each track on the album was written and recorded in one day, creating an open snapshot into his everyday moments and life experiences, embracing the method’s intentional messiness from the off. Single ‘hello!’ has echoes of Mac DeMarco-style psych pop as it reflects on self-awareness, while the rush of metropolitan life is matched by the sonic speed on ‘animal’, and ‘chew u up’ combines jazz influences and lush vocal harmonies to tell its story of romantic longing and gut-wrenching heartbreak. The latter half of the record projects a more sombre tone, the songs’ lyrics acting almost as Martin’s personal journal: ‘losing me’ is a piano-led tune that’s akin to a love child of Vashti Bunyan and Declan McKenna, while ‘this love’s gonna go nowhere’ uses understated vocal layers and similarly hushed percussion to create a melancholy love letter. Recorded using exclusively analogue equipment with longtime friend and producer Matt Zara, the relatively simple arrangements combine to make a timeless record that showcases Martin’s ability to create intimacy.