SEPT SINGLE FLASHBACK – THALA ‘I Know When You Care’
8 October 2023
Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Marta Per has just released ‘Caught By Surprise’, the electrifying single from her upcoming EP, Favourite Way of Existing. In conversation with the London based artist, Marta talked about the process of writing the track, and how it reflected a “different perspective” in both her music and her life.
Marta moved from Lisbon to London at the age of 18; six years on she has since headlined shows around London and reached critical acclaim for her album titled ‘Fragments and Fingerprints’. “My music as an artist was at first more of an attempt to escape” said Marta coyly. ‘Caught By Surprise’ signals a shift in the artist’s musical output: it illustrates her experience of “coming [to London], becoming my own person, becoming my own individual”. The song came into being after intertwining musical fragments collected over two years. The first time Marta sat down to write the track, she was feeling “completely isolated” after moving to London – the final time with a “different perspective and more maturity”. ‘Caught By Surprise’ certainly feels like an anthem of liberation, with an upbeat tempo and lyrics campaigning for self-forgiveness after feeling lost.
Listening to Marta’s catalogue, we can hear a sophisticated and eclectic mix of musical genres, from her film composition education to r&b, classical and jazz influences. When asked about her current inspirations, the singer listed Raye and Paramore: “a mixture of rock and jazz, that’s what I’m going for”. ‘Caught By Surprise’ certainly achieves this medley, with catchy soaring melodies underlined by energetic bass and guitar grooves. Marta is a multi-instrumentalist and producer, writing and recording every instrument but the drums from her home studio. Her voice has a rich and mellow tone, with a relaxed jazzy vibrato which smoothly illustrates every honest lyric. Over a wash of spread chord electric guitar textures, the first verse expresses simultaneously feeling disorientated whilst finding strength in hard times. Marta sings that she feels ‘stuck in a foreign land’ yet ‘there’s no place I’d rather be’. The chorus hook ‘thought my head was buried in the sand’ signals coming face to face with who you’ve become. The soaring guitar solo in the bridge compliments Marta’s floating vocalisations, and showcases the virtuosity of her playing over the punchy rock drum beat. The track ends on a final chorus, with filtered panned vocals singing the lyrics as Marta’s voice vocalises and climbs higher in a rejection of ‘feeling bitter’.
‘Caught By Surprise’ is an energetic yet insightfully honest track from Marta Per. We look forward to what her upcoming EP, Favourite Way of Existing will bring.
