Martin Craft

Martin Craft (born 18 January 1976) is an Australian songwriter, producer, and composer who lives and works in Joshua Tree, London, and Berlin. Usually recording under the name M.Craft, he has released several albums on various labels, most recently signing with London's Heavenly Recordings. He also spent several years playing guitar with Jarvis Cocker.

Early life

Craft was born in Canberra, Australia, but grew up in the UK as his father worked for the Department of Foreign Affairs. The family returned to Canberra in 1988, where he formed the band Sidewinder with brother Nick whilst still in school. He studied piano and composition at the Canberra School of Music for several years, before moving to Sydney.

M. Craft

The mini-album I Can See It All Tonight (2004) saw Craft begin to be given critical acclaim in the press.^[1] Craft began work on an album, much of which was recorded in home studios around Dalston, where Craft has lived for many years. A full-length record Silver and Fire was released in 2006 and saw Craft's reputation as a songwriter and producer become more widely recognized.^[2] As well as receiving substantial airplay, Craft also appeared live at many festivals in Europe, at the Spiegeltent as part of the Sydney festival in Australia, where Silver and Fire was released under his full name of Martin Craft with an added disc of bonus tracks.^[3]

Although Craft's relationship with 679 Recordings ended after Silver and Fire, he continued to work as an independent artist and producer and released a second album in late 2009, titled Arrows at the Sun.^[4]

Having lived in London for over a decade, Craft relocated to California in 2013, and was based firstly in Los Angeles, and then Joshua Tree in the Mojave Desert. While living there he conceived and recorded the album Blood Moon, which attracted the attention of Jeff Barrett of Heavenly Recordings. The label released the album on 17 June 2016.^[5] The music video for the single Chemical Trails was directed by fellow Australian, photographer George Byrne. Blood Moon features ten songs based on piano improvisations by Craft. Participating performers are Seb Rochford, Kristina Train and Mary Lattimore.^[6]

Craft tended to play most of the instruments on his own records, and has most often acted as his own engineer and producer. Whilst many of his songs incorporate folk-style finger-picking, others draw their inspiration from dance-influenced pop, Latin rhythms and sixties artists such as the Velvet Underground. He has been compared to widely disparate artists, most frequently Neil Young, Elliott Smith and Serge Gainsbourg.^[7][8]

Songwriting and music production

Martin Craft often collaborates and has co-written songs with a wide range of artists such as Kristina Train, Lissie, Alice Gold, Rumer, Empire of the Sun, Nick Littlemore, Jarvis Cocker, Tiesto, and Grant Earl Lavalley.

He has also produced recordings for Lissie, Kristina Train, Charles De Pury, Nick Craft, and Grant Earl Lavalley.

References