Billie Marten was signed by a label at 15. Now 26, she struggles with being called ‘prolific’
For Billie Marten, music is as natural as breathing. The 26-year-old British singer-songwriter already has a decade-long career under her belt. A journey that started when his father taught him guitar at the age of seven, and he has been writing songs ever since.
Currently touring Australia and New Zealand (a tour that kicks off in Brisbane on Wednesday), Marten gravitates towards the friendly, “non-judgmental” atmosphere he first discovered during a standout show in Sydney last year.
“That was actually the first show I ever attended,” Marten recalls. “And I sat down and started playing tunes, and it was very welcoming, very beautiful, and not judgmental at all. I found it to be a very accepting group of people.”
Marten’s last album, 2025’s Dog Earedcaptures this closeness. A vibrant blend of soft rock and folk, the record oozes with airy vocals and jazz tones. He explains that the title reflects his perspective of his work as an ongoing, unfinished project.
“There’s a lot of pressure to make a ‘definitive’ record, and that’s how people define you,” he says. “So the idea was that you ignore the page and go back to what’s left. That’s what it was then: here’s a little snippet of what happened to me in the summer, and there will be more.”
It consists of optimistic tracks like the album Feeling to slower, simplified numbers like Leap Year. The album also draws heavily on dog imagery as a means of emotional sensitivity.
Inside No Sudden Change Marten resorts to the image of a resting dog to describe a moment of tranquility: “I stand motionless outside of his turn/Like a dog resting its chin on the window sill”.
“I had a strong connection with them and realized they were excellent subjects to use as powerful writing tools on an emotional sensitivity level.”
His style is deeply rooted in the classics. Its namesake is the late British guitarist John Martyn. “I grew up with John Martyn, the favorite person in our family, so much so that I took his name and changed one of his letters.”
Folk legends Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake, as well as American alternative singer-songwriter Fiona Apple, were influences.
“They seem incredibly independent no matter what time they are,” Marten says. “They are timeless people. That’s why I follow them to the ends of the earth.”
At age 15, Marten signed with Chess Club Records, a subsidiary of Sony Music, and his discography now spans five studio albums. The musician has a hard time being labeled as productive.
“It’s a great honor that people think that. But, you know, technically, if I had started when I was 25, I think it would have been a normal progression.”
“I think because I signed — this was around 2014, 2015, which seems like miles away from where we are in the industry now — streaming was just starting to happen on records and vinyl. So I was very protective of wanting to make records and make endless music that was more about, you know, the time we were in, which is that you have to make an immediate mark.”
“But I would say that regardless of ‘productivity’” — he points to the quotes in the air around the word — “I definitely took my time and wanted to write something, you know, in real time.”
Now he enjoys “annoying his bandmates” as he tries to learn the piano and violin, and laughs as he describes playing “jolly songs made for a five-year-old.”
When asked what’s next, Marten pauses, thinks, and says, “The thing is, I’ve worked on a two-year cycle for so long that I can predict what’s coming to me next, and I feel like that’s not the right headspace to do something new. Right now I’m just trying to surprise my brain a little bit.”
Billie Marten will perform at Sydney Metro Theater on 6 February and Melbourne’s Croxton Bandroom on 7 February.
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Emily Kaine is a national news blogger for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
