Billie Marten is pleased to share a fourth track from her forthcoming album, Dog Eared.
'Swing' is the latest single from her forthcoming album, Dog Eared, out 18th July via Fiction Records. Following 'Crown', 'Feeling', and 'Leap Year', the barnstorming 'Swing' finds Billie in quite scintillating form, and a song that sounds like she’s bottled the aura of her open-door studio policy in New York and spilled it out into the music. It’s a jubilant, playful conclusion to the new record.
Of the track, Billie says: “I wanted it to sound like the Meat Puppets meets The Breeders. I think we got pretty close without sharing any influences in the studio.
“This one’s funny because we had Mauro Refosco (who does percussion on nearly every song) try out lots of different things, and in the end, producer Phil just turned all of his tracks up at once and what you’re hearing is every pass that he did. It’s awesome. The bass is also supremely loud. The last addition to the record was Sam Amidon with his fiddle part, which the song would be nothing without.”
Dog Eared is released on Friday 18th July via Fiction Records. Pre-order the record HERE.
A lengthy runs of shows throughout North America, the UK, Ireland and Europe kicks off later this month, winding up with Billie’s biggest headline show to date, at London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town in November. She takes in Glastonbury on 27th June preceded by a string of open-air shows in support of Elbow.
The making of Dog Eared
Billie headed to New York in the summer of 2024 to record with producer Phil Weinrobe (Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, Laura Veirs) at his Sugar Mountain studio, alongside an all-star cast of musicians. The likes of Catalan singer-songwriter/guitarist Núria Graham, bassist Josh Crumbly, virtuosic guitarist Mike Haldeman, multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, revered indie-rock musician Sam Evian, former Dirty Projectors vocalist/folk musician Maia Friedman, Brazilian percussionist Mauro Refosco, drummer/multi-instrumentalist Vishal Nayak, keys/synth player Michael Coleman, and acclaimed folk musician Sam Amidon sprinkle their gold dust over Dog Eared. A band packed with talent and cumulative credits across records by Cassandra Jenkins, Kamasi Washington, Moses Sumney, Robert Glasper, Tune-Yards, Empress Of, Nick Hakim, David Byrne, Atoms for Peace, Feist, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and now Billie Marten.
Dog Eared is a warm, rich and textured record that bristles with confidence and self-belief, with Billie already approaching the prolificacy of a “lifer” with so much life left to live. It’s a left turn from her previous recordings, albeit a subtle one, taken with a deftness of touch. A musician embracing change, while staying true to her core self. There’s a certain strength of conviction here that finds its voice more prominently in the extensive pool of her acclaimed American contemporaries, of which she now surely stands shoulder to shoulder with. With Dog Eared, Billie calmly posits herself at the top of the tree of not just British contemporary folk artists, but with British songwriters at large.
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