"My mother's water broke while she was sitting at the upright piano in my family's bar-restaurant, El Faristol, in Altafulla. She was there, singing, and there I arrived." The Scottish and Catalan-descended singer-songwriter Lynne Martí laughs as she recounts this anecdote that illustrates a childhood steeped in music. "I grew up in an inspiring environment, surrounded by musicians, artists, jam sessions, art, and culture." In the background, the Teskey Brothers drag the notes of Forever you and me while the patron nibbles on some cubes of Idiazabal cheese with a glass of Ribera del Duero red wine.
"One of the musicians who frequented the bar was the British William Topley, singer of the band The Blessing. One summer I showed him the songs I had written in my room with the guitar, and he suggested I accompany him to his studio in England to record them." Thus, at only 16 years old, Lynne got on a plane and crossed the English countryside, determined "to experience my first studio recording." She shifts her gaze, in silence, towards that vital turning point. "In a week we recorded two songs with his guitarist Luke Lewis. I still remember the nerves of being in the studio shaping those songs. That's when I thought: I'm going to do this forever, how amazing!'"
Years later, she moved to Barcelona to study English philology and founded Poet In Process. "With this band I had my best musical moments of youth and incredible experiences. We recorded two demos and two albums: Free Way, which we recorded at Blind Records in 2006, and Long time no see, two years later." The project lasted just over a decade, during which Lynne shared the stage with bands like Stereophonics or Take That, crossed the ocean to perform at Canadian Music Week in Toronto, toured Niagara Falls in a van, and even got on stage at SXSW in Austin, in addition to touring all over Europe with Muse.
"With that tour we grew and realized what the musical world really was, how the industry worked: something wild and grand," she recalls, proud of "always having continued making music, despite the difficulties and miseries that the profession sometimes entails. Of not throwing in the towel, even if sometimes the result is sad. I don't make a living from music, but it gives me life."
Something born in Berlin
After finishing Poet in Process, the artist felt the need to delve into a repertoire more her own, more intimate, that would deeply reflect the colors and chords of her soul. "I went to Berlin, where I performed solo for the first time. There, in fact, the alter ego Lynne Martin emerged, because people there had trouble pronouncing Martí," she laughs.
In the German capital, something in her transformed, beyond her artistic name. New songs were born within her and, with all that expressive baggage, she returned to Barcelona "looking for where to record all the material composed in Berlin." Upon her return, she met "the key person of this new stage, Miguel Zanón, who produced my first solo album, Texturas, in 2018, and with whom I have continued to work on the four subsequent albums recorded under my name."
While they continue recording in their home studio, working "on a two-voice project of songs composed by Miguel in Spanish, which is turning out very special," the singer has just released a duet single with fellow parishioner Carles Estrada, which includes a cover of The Pogues' Fairy tale of New York, in homage to the recently deceased Shane MacGowan.
A city that perhaps no longer gives wings
Currently based between Altafulla and Barcelona, the artist thinks of it as "that city that gave me wings in my youth." Rehearsals in the venues on Pallars street, tapas, wine and laughter in bodegas "like Bodega d'en Rafel, which combined the neighborhood's culture"; talking about books until late in Joaquim Costa, enjoying parties and events in "Sidecar, La Paloma or Astrolabi." Cycling through its corners, "squares like Sant Felip Neri, on whose church walls you can see what remains of the shrapnel from one of the bombs dropped in the Civil War, or Diamant, and imagining Mercè Rodoreda's protagonist, Natàlia, in the time of the Republic." Meeting "very interesting people and friends for life." A city for which she feels sincere, deep gratitude, although perhaps it can no longer give the same wings as before.
--- What do you think is wrong?
The singer frowns. "That hateful term that already resonated in Berlin when I lived there: gentrification. The neglect of the indigenous and authentic aspects of the city," she replies. And she emphasizes the battered music circuit, "which is already something to cry about, because there are very few bars where semi-professional musicians or local bands starting out, or simply quality musical projects, can play, if not by paying for a very expensive venue, and then having to drag their friends along. Where did those music bars go where you could have a drink and enjoy someone playing?" She finishes her wine and adds: "You don't eat well either. If Vázquez Montalbán were to rise from the grave, what would he say about today's Barcelona?"
--- He would probably come to this Bar, where we have everything of quality. In case you want another wine and accompany it with some tapas, some portions, a sandwich or a delicious menu.
Lynne Martin laughs with the full breadth of her jaw and gaze, almost following the rhythm of Oceans of emotions by the Teskey Brothers.
--- Well, a good portion to share would be the thing---, she replies, while dialing Miguel Zanón's number so he doesn't miss the imminent tapas.