Folk singer/songwriter, Martha Tislton, is coming back to Birmingham, playing at the Kitchen Garden Café on Sunday February 24th.
In the city at the tail end of her five date tour, the Cornwall based artist is promoting her third solo album, ‘Machines of Love and Grace’.
Taking its name from the 1967 poem by Richard Brautigan – ‘All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace’, and subsequent BBC documentary of the same name, Tilston’s latest LP manifests itself as ‘eloquent, politicised questioning’ of ‘the conflict of human life and the machinery of modern age’.
No stranger to the Folk scene, Martha Tislton has held a constant presence on the festival and tour circuits since 2000.
Originally part of a touring troupe called ‘Small World Solar Stage’, and half of the duo ‘Mouse’ with Nick Marshall, Tilston began performing solo in 2002.
Releasing her debut album as a solo artist, ‘Rolling’ (her third studio album), on her homegrown Squiggly label in 2002, Martha Tilston went on to support Damien Rice, open Glastonbury Festival’s Acoustic Stage in 2007, and receive a nomination for Best New Act at the BBC Folk Awards the same year.
Releasing her second solo album, ‘Bimbling’, in 2005, Tilston continued to collaborate – releasing ‘Ropeswing’ with The Woods in 2006 and featuring on Zero 7’s fourth studio album, ‘Yeah Ghost’, in 2009.
Releasing ‘Machines of Love and Grace’ in Oct 2011, Tilston was inspired to be “a bit braver” with her latest LP after seeing PJ Harvey’s success with, ‘Let England Shake’, at the 2011 Mercury Music Awards.
Using the album to explore themes of global concern, such as money markets, war and social justice, Tilston states, “It just feels right for now. I think a few years ago it would have turned people off, but I think people are hungry for that now.”
Martha Tilson comes to the Kitchen Garden Café in Kings Heath on Sunday 24th February. For more on this, and other events at the venue, visit http://www.kitchengardencafe.co.uk/events.php?pid=main
For more on Martha Tislton, including digital downloads of ‘Machines of Love and Grace’, visit http://www.marthatilston.co.uk