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In September 2004, you would have been a fool to have put your money on Martin Craft ever actually completing the album that he had promised for so long. He was walking the streets of Dalston (his neighbourhood and London's most decadent slum) and wondering what on earth to do next. He couldn't play any instruments as his arms were painful and blackened with bruising from shoulder to wrist - a faulty amp had recently electrocuted him quite seriously. He was broke, never the best with money, he'd almost spent his entire album budget on two different attempts to make it - which had failed. People's fixation on haircut rock seemed like it was never going to end - things didn't look so good!
He had a few things in his favour - a small taste of recognition with his EP, 'I Can See It All Tonight' which garnered such comment as "we're talking major new talent" (The Independent on Sunday), or even "one of the most distinctive voices in song writing in the 21st century" (dazed and confused). He had an illustrious past-life as a founder of classic Australian psychedelics band Sidewinder and, most importantly, a deal with one of the most interesting record labels in the land, 679 recordings, but he just couldn't get it together.
Luckily, fate did the twist when he ran into his friend Daniel Lea in Oxfam (Craft is a thrift store junkie from way back). Lea had just set up a small studio in his basement and was also at a loose end, looking for a job to get by on, so they struck up a plan, and within a few days drums were being recorded in the kitchen, with microphones hanging from the ceiling and the bathroom used as a makeshift reverb chamber. Over the next six months, while the housemates were at work, they recorded the many layers that make up this richly woven record. The bruises healed, the music flowed, and somehow, 'Silver and Fire' came together.
Each song on this record is a gem. Inventiveness, individuality, and inspiration all cut together with impeccable craftsmanship (pun intended) and a modest, reflective, and warm spirit. M. Craft's honey smooth voice and wry lyrics dance around sparkling melodies, the sound of his wickedly picked guitars, dreamy girl backing vocals and hypnotic drums. Yves Saint Laurent famously said "fashion fades, but style is eternal". M. Craft is often stubbornly unfashionable in his music- whether it be the chic-disco guitars of 'You are the Music', the latin grooves of 'Emily Snow', or the near power balladeering of 'Love Knows How to Fight' but in the end this music is poised , elegant, and has great and lasting style.
The record opens with the entrancing dreamjazz of the title track 'Silver & Fire'; then to the fuzzed-out Bacharachian bossanova of 'Emily Snow'; then the neon-soul of the shimmering 'You are the Music' (an apocalypso disco!); the lonesome folk-waltz of 'Got Nobody Waiting for Me', which has spiralling lyrics and a melancholia that hints at the red wine sounds of Leonard Cohen, or even the sorrow of Elliot Smith.
Stay tuned for the searing, soaring, soul-searching broken-man ballad of 'Love Knows How to Fight'; 'Lucille (where did the love go?)' which asks why the world is becoming so goddamn loveless, and is oddly suggestive of the Beatles with Lou Reed guesting on guitar - it's big, bold, and brilliant; then the utterly mesmerising 'Dragonfly', an existential folk reverie under a perfect starry sky.
The epic 'Snowbird' and it's shuffling, ever intensifying circles, follows the life of a young girl who's artistically gifted but ends up dropping our of art school in favour of a coke-fuelled nightlife; 'Sweets' is like Neil young doing r'n'b with Gainsbourgesque girl vocals; 'The Soldier' is a sparse and lonely arabesque, a love letter from a desert warfront to a girl back home and closing the record is the prettiest of all; 'Teardrop Tattoo' a dark tale set in a rainy night red-light district.
M. Craft writes, sings, produces, mixes and plays the instruments in his recordings, apart from the drums which are outstandingly played by long-time collaborator Paul Cook. The female voices are provided by Tree Carr, Sarah Cartwright and Maya Lubinsky. His inimitable production style is a rich layering of instruments that come together in warm, but never overly-sweet sound.
Martin Craft is an Australian who grew up in London, Canberra and Sydney. a classical music school drop out, he formed his first band, Sidewinder, at 15, and spent 8 years touring and releasing records. After they split, he moved to east London leaving music to one side, and worked behind bars and cooking in cafes for a few years. 679 records found him and dusted him off and they've already released a couple of 7"s and an EP, now they are proud to present this remarkable debut solo album, soul music for the modern times, captivating, expressive, intelligent and beautiful
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