Portland’s Jeffrey Martin has returned to the studio for the first time in six years with his forthcoming album, Thank God We Left the Garden (out November 3rd via Fluff and Gravy Records.) Martin is an ingenious lyricist and observer of life, and his evocatively-titled album speaks to a a celebration of all of the rough edges that make us human. On “Red Station Wagon,” Martin examines a fictional — but all too realistic — moment of youthful callousness under a new light.
Portland’s Jeffrey Martin has returned to the studio for the first time in six years with his forthcoming album, Thank God We Left the Garden (out November 3rd via Fluff and Gravy Records.) Martin is an ingenious lyricist and observer of life, and his evocatively-titled album speaks to a a celebration of all of the rough edges that make us human. On “Red Station Wagon,” Martin examines a moment of youthful callousness under a new light.
“I wanted to tell a story of transformation. Someone becoming better than they used to be, and owning the ugliness of their past,” Martin explains. “Just a few years ago derogatory homophobic language was the norm in our culture. Across the board, in movies, television, comedy, books, and so also in the language of young people everywhere, and most especially young men, to be ‘gay’ was the go to insult for anyone and any thing that was seen as weak or weird. ‘Red Station Wagon’ is rooted in a deep shared truth. It’s the story of a confession of one man to another, looking back on a crucial moment from his youth where a dear friend of his took a big risk and courageously chose to be vulnerable, only to be betrayed by him in the worst possible way…Part of any genuine atonement is the honest confession of what one did wrong, and I felt it was crucial to use the raw and hurtful language directly in the song, partly to make the narrator’s apology more sincere, and partly to call out everyone (myself included) who ever used language like that and hasn’t honestly reflected on it since.”
(Please note: Martin sings the word “fag” around the 1:33 mark.)
Martin’s new album, Thank God We Left the Garden, his first in 6 years, is due out November 3 via Fluff & Gravy Records.
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