THE BEAT
Martins experiences at Ohio University have helped make him into the musician he is today.
HEARTSTRINGS
RJ Martin has a unique sound he’s excited to share with the Athens music scene. BY AYA CATHEY | PHOTOS BY SOPHIA DAUGHERTY MUNOZ
R
J Martin is used to standing out. “There’s not a lot of artists like me in Athens, so sometimes I’ll open for a band with a different style,” Martin says. “There won’t always be people who connect to my songs; I’m an odd one out. But that’s okay, I love what I do, and I wouldn’t change that.” Martin, a “Sad Boy Folk” artist, is an Athens-based singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He describes his style of music as indie-folk and is heavily inspired by musicians such as Shakey Graves, Bob Dylan and Green Day. In April of this year, he released his first EP, Don’t Wait. The EP features four songs: “Ashes,” “ Chihiro,” “Midsummer,” and “Interstellar Love Songs.” “Ashes,” his most prominent song on the EP, was written about his cousin who passed away in 2018. He recorded most of the acoustic guitar on the EP using his late cousin’s guitar. The rest of the EP explores abstract themes of death, passing on, and genesis. “Chihiro” is about traversing a world of spirits, and “Midsummer” is about the loneliness experienced after being laid in your own grave. “Interstellar Love Song” follows a
26
backdrop | Fall 2020
slightly different theme, but its message is about the feeling of genesis: to embark on a new beginning. “Ashes” and “Midsummer” were both created as demos before he was signed to Brick City, an Ohio University student-run record label, and was given the opportunity to release his full EP. “I had no idea when I’d release or finish them, but knew I wanted to,” Martin says. “Writing these songs were part of a big healing process and kind of a proverbial sigh of relief, once I finally finished.” During the songwriting process, Martin writes his music and melody first so that it is easier to set the lyrics to a rhythm already in place. For the structure of the songs, he looks for inspiration from other artists and engineers that he enjoys. “Often, I’ll hear listeners call my songs 'chill' or 'soothing.' Which is okay, but I don’t make music for people to fall asleep to,” Martin says. “I want my music to evoke an emotional experience, one where people feel impacted by simply listening to a single line or melody.” While he usually has a more drawn out writing process, he recently started experimenting with many different melodies
