The Blue God

Muse in a shadow

Despite that fact that Martina Topley Bird made a sufficiently valuable contribution to creative works of a widely reputed trip-hopper Tricky, her name, for some reason, was always staying in a shadow. The first three albums, which actually comprise a foundation for Tricky’s fame, were recorded in collaboration exactly with her. There is doubt that he was a leader in this tandem but how his paranoid electronic experiments would sound without her charming voice? Nevertheless, the public decided to memorize Tricky as a lonely genius. The situation didn’t change for the better even after Martina’s debut album Quixotic became a finalist of the 2003 Mercury Music Prize. Guest musicians and producers, who took part in this album, including Josh Homm and again Tricky, received as much attention as Martina herself. It is hardly possible to relate it to female discrimination in show business but she spent next five years playing secondary roles again on somebody else’s songs and albums.

The Blue God: a world within an album

Luckily, the leading role on Martina’s new album called The Blue God entirely belongs to her. And even such a topical producer in today’s industry as Danger Mouse, who produced the lion’s share of this album, will be hardly able to overshadow her with his presence. Danger Mouse did his best here indeed but still Martina’s enigmatic and sensual voice remains the core of the record. Stylistically, The Blue God is really close to be called a pop album; although Martina’s reach trip-hop experience makes itself felt either. Nevertheless, such a description gives only a vague idea about the record. The Blue God possesses something like a consistent inner substance, some sort of intelligence and confidence; it has its own character, if you please. This is an entire world full of cold, at times even severe but really beautiful and fragile images. Yes, this is pop but it has nothing to do with those hot or pinky looks, which are displayed in every other pop song that we know. The Blue God has a purely British sound, a little bit dank and mysterious but charming and accessible at the same time.

Martina Topley Bird accepts different genres of music

For the most part all the songs sound pacifically and calm. Martina sings in a very light and definite way and never tries to astonish you with different vocal passages. The first track Phoenix sounds quite exemplifying even though it’s not the best song here. It is followed by a whole train of pretty strong compositions with a little bit weird song Carnies at the head. A few special words must be said about Shangri La. This is a very beautiful and meditative composition, which is full of some kind of unearthly energy. Frankly speaking, it is pretty hard to mark out or to recommend separate songs here. The Blue God, as an album, sounds very coherent and each track here has a whole bunch of positive qualities, which give them almost equal chances to become someone’s favorites. The Blue God is a worthy record indeed. It is made for those who seek for competent and sense-bringing music. The album doesn’t tier you and it doesn’t make you bored, it is easy to apprehend but at the same time it sounds really diverse as it combines elements of different styles that may vary from pop rock to electronica. In a word, The Blue God is something that won’t sound out-of-date even 10 years later.