Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The evocative nature of a single word or a modest phrase can unleash scenarios in the mind that are more than just placed there by the artist, they open up worlds that the intended recipient cannot but help desire to explore, and whether by map, by a crude drawing by the naive cartographer or from the promise of suggestion by The Tape, what is revealed is not only a haunting promise, it is beauty declared.
When an artist finds ways to open up the word to more than one avenue of exposure, uncovering the production to another artistic viewpoint whilst retaining the integrity of the one they first laid the foundations upon, that is not just luck, fortune or good planning, it is a gift from the gods, a reward for the courage shown and fostered: and in this souvenir by spirits decreed The Tape becomes a film as well as a hugely impressive album.
It is in the album that the music is framed, and for the celebrated Martha Tilston, The Tape is an extraordinary piece of art, not just a simple act of placing paint on a canvas, not typing out an elegant piece of poetry, this is culmination of work that has at its seed her very essence, her life in music from the start, long before her career began, this is the presentation of inner heart, of substance, of the soul, released.
Across tracks and emotional heart stoppers such as Wild and Rocky Shores, Western Sun, the harmony and overwhelming expression to be found in the openers of Sadness of the Sea and Come Alive, the illuminating presence of Goshawk Child, and Oxygen, Marth Tilston radiates vocal supremacy and the core of musical agility.
An album that implores response, that requires attention to every tone and gesture produced, The Tape is much more than a collection of songs set against a tremendous film, it is a life story, a history, a future, and one that cannot be contained by one artistic work. This rarity of the sensitive upheaval is captivating and beautiful, elegant and emotionally fulfilling; an album that is more than a tape, it is a recording library of passionate belief.
Martha Tilston holds nothing back, and The Tape is an extension of that belief, for in these songs stands testament to her will and the detailed observer for whom the lens opens, and the tape never ends.
Ian D. Hall