Listen: Norma Jean Martine – Mexico
Born in close proximity to New York City, vocalist Norma Jean Martine attended university in Nashville before settling upon England as the ideal base to finish her musical education and cultivate her budding affinity for melding gritty soul with catching pop hooks.
The results are striking. ‘Lived-in’ has seldom carried such weight, with each of Norma’s SoundCloud demos permeated by heartbreak (‘Still In Love With You’), loneliness (‘Game Over’) and in the case of new track, ‘Mexico’, pure escapism. Channelling some of last decade’s most distinctive voices, Adele and Amy Winehouse receive faithful nods, Norma shimmies her way confidently through militant beats and solemn piano plinks, driving her glassy vocal through a triumphant 2:20 key change, into the refrain, ‘Take me down, way down to Mexico’. If only.
Norma releases ‘No Gold‘ via Super! (AlunaGeorge, Bondax) on 14 October.
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Patrick Wolf
Crying The Neck
