Take a few listens to Nick Drake albums, repeat viewings of The Wicker Man and an exclusive devotion to minor keys and you have the formula for the many young, male songwriters popping up everywhere nowadays, hoping to ride the crest of the folky wave we have with us right now.
Yes, drivel like this Martin Grech fellow is what passes for folk music nowadays. This sort of commercial acoustic balladeery thing really shouldn't go beyond the passable Scott Matthews or the genuinely-rather-good Findlay Brown, both artists Martin Grech can be boxed with.
But it seems strange Grech has taken this path, given that in the past he has been compared with Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead. For this is very basic stuff, sparse guitar, smooth, quiet yet pained vocals and a Romantic soul that will plug him into the market of young ladies looking for a good-looking tortured artiste to swoon over...sorry, I mean it will 'cite him in the great tradition of introspective songwriters'. Please fuck off; there are enough of those already. Get angry Martin!
