Martha Ffion: Momentum
With Momentum Funding, Martha Ffion will record and release her sophomore album, swiftly following on from the success of her critically-acclaimed 2018 debut, ‘Sunday Best’.
Raised in Warrenpoint, a small border town in the North of Ireland, Claire ‘Martha Ffion’ McKay’s musical education began with violin and harp lessons and competing in the local Feis. McKay began writing music when she moved to Glasgow in 2008 and taught herself to play guitar. Having honed her craft, regularly playing open mic nights around the city, she gained recognition as one of Scotland’s most promising songwriters when Lost Map released her single, ‘No Applause’ via Postcard in 2015.
Her reputation soared with the ‘Trip’ EP, released in 2016 on Turnstile Music (Cate Le Bon, Gruff Rhys). The debut album, ‘Sunday Best’ followed in March 2018 and is her most adventurous and accomplished work to date. It was one of the twenty albums long listed for 2018’s Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) prize, alongside albums by Franz Ferdinand, Mogwai and Young Fathers.
Her unique style – classic songwriting meets dreampop – has been championed by the likes of Lauren Laverne, Huw Stephens and Marc Riley.
With this album, Martha Ffion will demonstrate her diversity as an artist, exploring her pop sensibilities to a greater extent than ever before and experimenting with more contemporary sounds. Working with producer, Dave Frazer, she will undertake a new creative challenge: acting as a co-producer in order to fulfil her creative vision.
Martha Ffion said:
“With support from the Momentum fund I will be able to undertake a new creative challenge: co-producing my sophomore album, experimenting with exciting new sounds and styles.”