Billie Marten details her fifth album, Dog Eared

“I’ve discovered that I have a really particular long-term memory: I have specific sensory recollections from when I was two onwards, that I can recall easily now. One of these is marking out roads in my grandmother’s patterned carpet, for my Dad’s old 1950/60s toy cars to drive on. I used to trace patterns in everything: fabric seats at the dentist, carpets, wallpaper and walls, raindrops on car windows. Everything had a pattern to be noticed,” Billie Marten says of the new single.

“Another strong memory is the feeling of big, warm hands when you’re a child and how comforting and safe that feels. The notion of age being so far away from you, but you know it’s a future inevitability, and that you’re on your way there. The inarticulateness of that ‘feeling’ you can’t describe yet, but you’re aware of a push in the world that you don’t yet understand.”

Billie Marten created the album with producer Phil Weinrobe at his Sugar Mountain studio, alongside likes of Catalan singer-songwriter/guitarist Núria Graham, bassist Josh Crumbly, virtuosic guitarist Mike Haldeman, multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, indie-rock musician Sam Evian, former Dirty Projectors vocalist/folk musician Maia Friedman, Brazilian percussionist Mauro Refosco, drummer/multi-instrumentalist Vishal Nayak and acclaimed folk musician Sam Amidon.

"Dog Eared is a fucking miracle. This record feels like what music is supposed to be — a creative dialog between wide open musicians, all pushing in the exact same direction. And that direction is clear — the controls are set for the heart of Billie’s incredible songs," says Weinrobe. "Yes, the record was recorded live. Yes, Billie sang the lead vocals as it was going down. Yes, we were huddled up in a circle — no headphones, no walls, no playback, nothing separating each person from the next, and nothing separating the performers from their performances."

Tracklist:

1. Feeling
2. Crown
3. Clover
4. No Sudden Changes
5. The Glass
6. Leap Year
7. Goodnight Moon
8. Planets
9. You and I Both
10. Swing