Walter Martin Unveils Two New Singles "Hiram Hollow" and "Baseball Diamonds" New Album The Bear Out On March 25 via Ile Flottante Music |
 Credit: Melissa Martin |
March 4, 2022 - Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Walter Martin unveiled today two new singles titled "Baseball Diamonds" and "Hiram Hollow." The tracks are the latest to release from his forthcoming album The Bear, out later this month on March 25th through his imprint Ile Flottante Music. "Baseball Diamonds" was the first song written for The Bear, which ultimately set the tone for the rest of the album, while "Hiram Hollow" is a waltzing tune that toys with American folk traditions as it wrestles with the pain of saying goodbye to a loved one. Listen to "Hiram Hollow" HERE. Listen to "Baseball Diamonds" HERE. Pre-save/pre-order The Bear HERE. "I see these two songs as two different ways of telling a story about my life and my family," stated Walter. "It's a story a lot of people can probably relate to - one with a lot of love but also a lot of sadness. That story is what this whole album is really about. 'Baseball Diamonds' lives very much in reality with real life details, while 'Hiram Hollow' takes a much more allegorical approach. These weren't really conscious style decisions, the songs just came out that way." "Hiram Hollow" and "Baseball Diamonds" follow the release of "Easter," a somber and uneasy song that Flood Magazine called "a melancholy reflection on the past." The lead single and title track "The Bear" is also out now, which tells a story about the past, the present, and the future brought to life with humor and real-life detail. It was featured by Brooklyn Vegan, Under The Radar, and Stereogum who stated "Ever since the Walkmen embarked on their hiatus, several of the band's members have had prolific solo careers. But none of them have churned out music at quite the pace as Walter Martin." His sixth studio album to release in just under a decade ago, The Bear is a heartbreaking collection of bold autobiographical story-songs that Martin described as "the kind of album I've been building towards for my entire career." Written during last year's cold, bleak winter in an old 1800s schoolhouse in upstate New York that Martin converted into a studio, The Bear is an unexpectedly warm and inviting collection, one focused on growth and family and the power of human connection. The songs are gentle and engaging, with spacious arrangements often centered around fingerpicked electric guitars and romantic piano flourishes from Oscar-nominated Minari composer Emile Mosseri. Martin's idiosyncratic vocals are similarly amiable, delivered with the loose, casual demeanor of an old friend who's pleased as punch you decided to stop by. Like much of Martin's catalog, The Bear is chock full of delightfully vivid imagery and fueled by an infectious love of language, but this time around the lyrics leave more to the imagination, stepping away from explicit narrative forms in favor of more abstract and intuitive streams of consciousness. What ultimately emerges is a lifetime's worth of deeply personal snapshots and reflections all jumbled together, a family photo album dumped out on the floor and gathered back up into a swirl of moments and memories that manage to tell a million different stories all at once. In addition to Mosseri, The Bear features an all-star cast of musicians including guitarist Harrison Whitford (Phoebe Bridgers, Matt Berninger), drummer Josh Adams (Beck, Devendra Banhart), Eric D. Johnson (Bonny Light Horseman), frequent collaborator Josh Kaufman (Bonny Light Horseman, Hiss Golden Messenger, The National), and keyboardist/producer Sam Kassirer (Josh Ritter, Craig Finn) who also mixed the album. The resulting songs walk an artful line between folk intimacy and classical sophistication as they contemplate life, death, and everything in between. "I don't think I've had the nerve to be this honest, this autobiographical before," continued Martin. "But more than anything I've ever written, these songs explain who I am and why I make this stuff." Watch the album trailer HERE. Track Listing: 01) Hunters in the Snow 02) First Voices 03) New Green 04) Baseball Diamonds 05) The Bear 06) Hiram Hollow 07) Easter 08) Not My Mother 09) The Crow Symbolizes Love 10) The Song is Never Done  Album Art Created by Hollis Heichemer Walter Martin: |
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