British songwriter Billie Marten returned with her fifth album Dog Eared last month, her first project to rely on the robust sound and collaborative spirit of a full backing band as she continued to mine the deeply personal subject matter of her prior work. And while these recordings mostly speak for themselves when it comes to the cohesion and intimacy in the room achieved by producer Philip Weinrobe and a slate of session players, today she’s sharing a live video from the recording booth of the album centerpiece “Leap Year.”
Extending the near-six-minute cut to twice its length, the simmering take below features the musicians crammed into fairly tight quarters, with Weinrobe behind the deck at his Sugar Mountain studio in Brooklyn. Among the players are those who helped record the album along with some new additions, including studio musicians who’ve previously worked with Kamasi Washington, Buck Meek, and Leon Bridges, as well as current Dirty Projector and solo artist Maia Friedman.
“Between tour dates of the East Coast, we happened to have a slither of time where Phil, most of the album players, and I were all in NYC at the same time,” Marten shares. “Phil and I took this opportunity to recreate the album session (with the addition of some new players) and find some studio time amidst all the touring chaos. It was daunting to dive back in, but a beautiful time nonetheless—now you, the listener, can see exactly the world we were living in when making the record, and just how snug we sat.”
Check out the performance below. You can stream Dog Eared here, and revisit our review of the album here.
