Album Review: Toby Martin - Love’s Shadow

Artists always seem to be at pains to distinguish themselves from making so called “break-up albums”. Possibly it's the stigma attached to the idea of specifically documenting the end of a relationship, or maybe they just don't like the idea of the ex knowing that he or she has gotten under the skin. Despite clearly being influenced by such trials, Toby Martin's debut solo record Love's Shadow isn't so much a break-up record as it is a mediation on the nature of relationships and the causes of their disintegration. It's anything but a cop out.

Four years after Youth Group's swansong, Martin is still pitching himself somewhere between the weary observer and the heartbroken traveller. As a writer, he has always been at his best when letting his guard down and settling into a story, exemplified here in the gorgeous The Curve Of The Earth. In piecing together a simple story of a protagonist's relocation overseas, his partner's decision to follow and her eventual reservations (she's voiced here by Sarah Kelly), Martin showcases his skill in framing suburban melancholy. 

Elsewhere, on Good Friday we find Martin apartment-bound as he watches the holiday parades make their way through his beloved Sydney streets. “Self pity is such a fat waste of time,” he laments, “Better off laughing at their faith than pitying mine.” It's a brilliant lyric and one of countless couplets that stand out throughout this remarkable album. The liner notes mention that the songs were inspired by two Helen Garner short stories and it's not at all surprising to find that this kind of fiction was influential. With Love's Shadow, Martin has put together a collection of vignettes that confirm his as one of Australia's finest and most vivid imaginations.