Billie Marten Finds Simplicity and Sincerity on Her Album ‘Drop Cherries’

Photo courtesy of Sophia Fissler

Billie Marten’s fourth album, “Drop Cherries,” begins with a hum that beckons you into a world where love stains and simplifies. The album, consisting of 13 songs recorded entirely on tape, is a sprawling accomplishment that lights and crackles like a fireplace.

Beginning with “New Idea,” the expansive instrumental track which Billie called the “genesis of the record,” the listener is given ample time to fully settle in and watch the tapestry of “Drop Cherries” unfold. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime track — literally — as the songwriter says she forgot how to play it as soon as it was recorded.

The 24-year-old musician from Yorkshire then steps into her skin on “God Above,” where she flutters around the giant, enveloping love that seems to color the entire record in rose. After being encapsulated by a new love in the shiny, rhythmic single “I Can’t Get My Head Around You,” Billie bares her devotion fully on “Willow,” singing “Building a wall / Tearing it down / Sending a message that I am yours now.” As a whole, “Drop Cherries” tells a lush story that wrestles with selflessness, introspection and the fleeting truths of human nature. 

With its natural imagery and delicate production, Billie says that she set out to make this album “closer to the heart” than her 2021 album “Flora Fauna.” While her third album explored a sunny and more adventurous world that departed from her previously acoustic sound, “Drop Cherries” cuts out the distractions and tells of the secret language that a blooming romance creates. She describes “Drop Cherries” as “quietly knowing that you’ve still got that childlike sense of wonder and appreciating the simplicity and beauty of someone.”

Billie embodied that comfortable simplicity during her stripped-down show at the Bowery Ballroom on June 22 in New York City. It was clear that the soft-spoken woman in jeans on stage was the very same that had chatted with me over the phone about street corn and gardening from her East London flat. There’s no pretending with Billie — her comfortable transparency on stage allows for a sanctuary-like feeling, one that was welcomed by the sold-out, swaying crowd. 

She explored the album’s theme of tranquility over the course of the intimate set with a minimalist stage setting and an ease earned by performing for over half of her life. Billie joked and laughed with the audience, explaining how “Acid Tooth” derived from watching a trapped Javier Bardem in “Skyfall.” 

Though the show fell in the middle of her international tour, the performance felt spontaneous. She sent away her band to treat the crowd to a few songs with just her and her guitar, one of which was a cover of Nelly Furtado’s “I’m Like a Bird.” Just as casually as though she were talking to old friends, she dedicated “Willow” to couples in long-distance relationships. As the show came to a close, she led the audience in a hypnotizing harmony during “Liquid Love” off of “Flora Fauna,” creating something sacred and natural — the very essence of her discography.

“In all seriousness, this is a big day for me,” Billie said before her last song of the night, “I Can’t Get My Head Around You.” 

“I did not foresee this in my little life.”

Billie sat down with grain of salt to discuss “Drop Cherries,” sincerity, solitude and the ephemerality of feeling. 

I love this album so much; it felt like coming home to me. Starting with that first track, the whole album feels warm and natural, and the first track lets you settle into this world. When did you first decide that you wanted this record to happen there?

I knew that once I recorded it, I would never be able to make it again because I’ve forgotten entirely how to play it. And it’s more of a production exercise for me to keep adding layers and layers to see what the end result would be. It’s a reminder to me of the beginning of the next era because that was when I got into the studio and started making things. That was more sort of a little experiment without lyrics to see if I could carry an emotion without words. I knew that it would start the record. I think it would have been inappropriate anywhere else … That was the genesis of the whole record.

Was that the first song you recorded for the album?

There’s a song called “God Above,” which was actually written in 2020, in lockdown, but it had completely different lyrics and chords. I’ve had ideas in the past, but mostly it was written kind of last year.

When you released the acoustic tracks from “Flora Fauna,” I remember thinking that you sounded so comfortable. You said that that original album didn’t feel like you, exactly. I know growing up is always redefining yourself, but you seemed so confident in saying, “Oh, that wasn’t me. This is actually who I am.” Was there something that catalyzed this return to self?

I think I maybe spoke out of frustration after that album. People were talking to me about it, and I felt that I wasn’t able to be myself or that I couldn’t speak about that album or articulate it really well after it came out because it didn’t feel that close to me. I knew I needed to make something more impactful and closer to the heart and to my original sound, which is something that I had been lacking over the past few years. I thought it was always about looking forward and what’s next and who are you gonna be next. And I felt a longing for the past, before I had got into music or before I knew anything about anything. I’d say that overall, the narrative and voice of the album is quietly knowing that you’ve still got that childlike sense of wonder and appreciating the simplicity and beauty of someone. I think that’s quite a beautiful feeling, so I kind of just wanted to return to that.

Do you have any tips on that sincerity? On moving toward being a truer and simpler version of yourself?

Just do it! I think everybody knows at their core what they want, who they are, and how they carry themselves. I think that I have done a lot of acting in my lifetime and a lot of clinging to different people’s personalities and ways of life, and I just got tired of doing that. In the same way, when I used to cover songs and got tired of covering them, I started writing new ones. It’s about carving your own path and trusting it.

Your song “Just Us” was made in isolation, while you were in quarantine. Do you feel as though the pandemic made you more content with being alone? 

I’ve definitely felt loneliness in my life. But there’s something about a communal aspect when we were all going through it together that made me feel really lucky — lucky to be alive and to have a network of people. That song was actually written when my partner got COVID, and I got it a few days later when I was supposed to be playing a festival called Latitude, which is kind of a big honor over here, and it was really bad timing. And “Just Us” came out. I sat down and was kind of miserable being cut out from the outside world, but it was this moment where I could speak to the feeling of admiring that declaration and being honored and having your independence and observing the world from that kind of corner. And the last line is “I do believe in miracles,” and it’s just something as simple as two people being stuck in a basement flat with two flies. It’s kind of the whole idea of that.

Being alone is where I’m probably most myself, probably my happiest. My thoughts move at a really good pace, and I find that I’m more creative when I’m on my own. But also really craving human connectivity and human nature is a very strong part of me as well.

One of the comments on the YouTube video for “Drop Cherries: The Film” says “This album feels like a warm hug after days of loneliness.” You’ve described this as almost a selfish record, like you were doing it for yourself because you realized who you were. I was wondering how it feels to have made something for your own sake and now to watch it meet other people in their own solitude when it’s almost too much to bear.

Wow. It’s very satisfying. It’s like, “I’m so glad it reached you, however far you are away — Brazil, Canada, whatever. I’m so glad that you empathize with something that one person on the planet has said.” It may speak to an audience online, but it seems most characters find these things quite difficult — social interaction, finding our way of life, trying to be creative but not really knowing how to, trying to be nice to yourself, lots of body image and self-image things come up. It’s just quite satisfying to gather all these chums together, and we all help each other.

Going back to “Drop Cherries: The Film,” some of these songs feel so cinematic. Did you watch any movies that you were inspired by or were you inspired by any sort of visuals besides that natural imagery while making this album?

That’s a good question. I wish I could give you an answer, but honestly, there was no outside influence. I’ve found that everybody does a Pinterest board for each album or video, and it always ends up being a sort of copy of something else, or a nod to something that’s already happened. I guess this performance was hoping to create an ongoing universe with the help of Joe Wheatley, who directed that video. We both have a very similar eye and a love of simplicity, which, I guess, is the theme of everything. He sent me one live video, which is “Dijon.” It’s incredible. He’s in this sort of ready-made set. It was all a one-take thing, and the band sort of joins him afterward. And I thought, “Yeah, that’d be really cool; I wonder if we could pull that off.” And then we ended up using that first take.

When you say you just did it in one take, it sounds so casual but it’s actually insane.

Well, there’s no other option! 

Is there anything production-wise that you’re proud of in making this album that you haven’t had a chance to speak to yet?

That’s a nice question! I’m proud of producing “New Idea” and “Devil Swim,” which is my first achievement at getting a nice vocal sound. Very boring answer, but it’s something I can’t believe the amount of time it took. And then I think just being in a position where I can call on lots of friends, and they will come and make beautiful music with me, and we can all put it on an album that will last forever. I think I’m proud of getting to that phase where you can do that and allow all these amazing people to be in your life. 

Speaking of amazing people in your life, I know a lot of these songs are about your partner and falling in love and letting yourself be taken over by love. Have you ever been a muse yourself? And then, do you think it’s possible to be a muse and an artist at the same time?

Yes, I do! I am a testament to that because my partner has just actually written an album about me. It works really well because you have something that inspires you every day. You’re not getting writer’s block; there’s a million more things you can say to them and describe about them. You know, you can put them in all these different scenarios. Having a fresh character to play is awesome because otherwise you’re just stuck with yourself and the people you meet. And the relationship is always evolving, always changing. I guess that’s why people write about it so often, because it’s always changing. I know that I have written songs about specific people — and they’ve written them about me as well — so I guess it is possible.

What was your partner’s reaction to hearing the album in full?

It was sort of a gradual process because I’d come to him with all these songs and he’d say, “That one’s the best,” and then “No, that one’s the best.” It’s quite an emotional thing. I’ve said before that it’s like someone opening presents in front of you that you got them. Or reading a really intense birthday card that you wrote and meant them to open on their own, but they opened it straight away. That’s what this whole process feels like.

Do they have a favorite?

They do! It’s “Devil Swim.” It’s all about getting rid of the last bits of darkness that I kind of had when I met him. It is a very affirmative song, I think, and that was written earlier on in the relationship. 

In “Devil Swim,” when you talk about getting rid of that darkness, it seems like a silly question, but how do you move on? How do you feel these things and not carry them into your next relationship? 

I suppose I have a cheat way of doing that, which is writing the songs. As soon as I write it, it kind of goes away. Because I’ve explored that narrative and I’ve explored what I wanted to say — that’s kind of a diary entry-esque way of closing the door on that chapter. And then when I sing old things now where I knew I was in a place of pain or sadness or anguish, it just reminds me how different of a space I’m in now. Change is the only constant. Everything is ephemeral. I think once you realize that, you can’t get too comfortable in the happiness, and you also can’t get too comfortable in the sadness. It’s sort of a nice equilibrium.

Heartbreak can feel so heavy and permanent — it feels very hopeful to hear you talk about this now that you’ve found someone that makes you feel content with those feelings.

Exactly! And it is possible, and I thought the whole thing was a myth. I didn’t even believe in love! 

Love is real!

Love is real, guys. That’s the scoop.

“Drop Cherries” is available on streaming platforms now.