Raquel Martins spends her debut LP London, When Are U Gonna Feel Like Home? looking for familiarity, continuity, community. After several years as a touring musician for artists like Amaarae, Rina Sawayama, and Poppy, Martins has settled down into her own artistry. London is an examination of what her world looks like now that she’s at home, looking after her own creative universe instead of the sonic visions of others.
London unfolds like a concept album of sorts, with Martins’ story unfolding against a tantalizing backdrop of drums (both analog and electronic), layered and manipulated vocals, and stunning nylon guitar melodies. It’s an examination of the world Martins left behind to pursue her dreams, and all the second-guessing that ensues when not everything goes according to plan. As she explains, she’s “Looking at all the things you left behind, the groundless feeling feels justified. The quest continues.”
Check out Martins’ full track by track breakdown of her solo debut below.
1. “Calma!”
An introduction to what it feels like to be inside my brain: tension and release, confusion and clarity. A lot of thoughts. This song marked the start of the album process. I knew I wanted the nylon guitar and vocals to be at the center of the record, with elements circling around it in the production. It’s also the first time that a bit of Portuguese appears in my music; it wasn’t planned, it just came naturally.
2. “Choose Your Playa”
Wanted this track to feel like you’re in a video game with the production—MPC vibes. In the middle of the chaos, who do you want to be? Pick your tools, strengths, and weaknesses. Prepare yourself to fight. You versus your brain. Then realize you’re actually not ready for it. Loved writing strings for this one.
3. “I Wanna Live Next to the Sea”
The start of idealization. When your brain plays tricks, you start blaming everything around you: Maybe if I lived next to the sea in Portugal, everything would be alright. Highlight the guitar solo at the end: I ran my nylon guitar through a modular rack and cranked it up. One of my favorites to produce on the album.
4. “If I Gave U My Dream”
Maybe it’s not the place that’s the issue. Why not blame your career? Was it that that led you to move to London and lose yourself? Looking at all the things you left behind, the groundless feeling feels justified. The quest continues. My amazing friend Jas Kayser on drums!
5. “Quick Fix (Interlude)”
This was the last track of the album to be written. I wrote myself a brief for it when I came up with the album narrative, but it took me ages to figure out how I wanted to communicate it. It was great to explore humor and irony within the album, a side of myself I’d never really tapped into properly before with music. The first part of the track is like an advert for an idealized place, and the rest depicts me actually travelling there. I wanted to highlight the dangers of idealization.
6. “Ninguém”
OK, so I reach this perfect place, but my brain doesn’t even let me enjoy it because I’ve got this internal conflict constantly going on. We can keep blaming more stuff, but I start to see that the issue is more internal. I wanted the backing vocals to represent all these different sides of my brain, almost arguing with each other like a little committee involved in every decision I make. Another bit of Portuguese on this one. I was listening to a lot of music from Cabo Verde while making it.
7. “Give or Take”
This one came to me on a very cloudy day in London after my housemates had a wild party at ours. It represents the morning after the previous track. Nightlife can be fun for some people, but in the morning, after everything, it all feels the same.
8. “Dead End”
Well, I guess the problem has truly been me. And if I keep thinking like this, I don’t know what will happen. I wrote this song in a day, at the very end of the album process. Jas Kayser on drums again, sick groove.
9. “A Bit of Faith”
There’s a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. We recorded some percussion on a crazy horse skeleton that was in the studio for extra textures. I really like the guitar riff that comes before the outro. My friend Harvey Grant laid some beautiful synth textures on this one, too.
10. “Little Boy”
Home will always be within yourself. I wrote this after cutting my hair short. I’d always had it short as a kid. When I went back to it being short, it felt like returning to myself and my essence. Love the outro of the track (I love outros in general, as you can tell). I’m a big Milton Nascimento fan, and the outro bears some of his influence in the harmony.
11. “Washing Machine”
One of my favorites. When you find home in yourself, you’re ready to open that door to someone else. Connection might be the answer to everything. Maybe that’s the answer. With the production, I wanted it to feel like a contained grandeur. The instrumental break should feel huge but packaged in a small way: like the feeling of connecting with someone. Comes with so many layers, like an explosion inside that also reflects in tiny actions and expressions, and that is a quite simple thing at the end of the day.
12. “Don’t Press Replay”
End of the album, and me realizing I didn’t find an answer to the big question. No answer is an answer though—and that will set you free! Also, don’t press replay, because I don’t want to go through this process ever again!
