Letters Written

by Martyn Bates

Letters Written cover art
  • Type: Album
  • Released: October 1982
  • Label: Cherry Red
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Length: 1:11:59
  • Community rating: 3.75/5 from 4 ratings

Album Notes & Community Reviews

Taking a brief detour from his pioneering work with Eyeless in Gaza, the vocalist released a stark, highly intimate 10-inch solo debut. 'Letters Written' predominantly features Bates's quivering, emotionally raw voice accompanied solely by heavily delayed, skeletal electric guitar and primitive organ. It is a profoundly lonely, deeply melancholic exercise in minimalist songcraft that heavily influenced the emerging 'sadcore' aesthetic.

Genres

Descriptors: folk, acoustic, male-vocals, atmospheric, ballad

Tracklist

  1. Morning Singing (2:45)
  2. Cut Like Sunset (2:37)
  3. In June (2:56)
  4. Mirrored in Me (4:02)
  5. Overflowing Look (3:11)
  6. Aftertaste of Old (3:38)
  7. Jagged Tears of Words (3:14)
  8. Letters from Yesterday (3:37)
  9. Calls of Birds (3:21)
  10. Hungry Like Sharp Desire (1:52)
  11. Love Fell Silent (5:35)
  12. Last Chapel Picnic (4:59)
  13. At the Return of the Quiet (4:08)
  14. She Will Know (4:26)
  15. You've Got to Farewell (4:21)
  16. July Late Afternoon (5:55)
  17. Sad Song of Almost (3:30)
  18. The Look of Love (3:50)
  19. Etc Angel (3:52)

Credits

  • Dave Barker - sleeve
  • Martyn Bates - primary artist, producer, sleeve, written-by
  • John A. Rivers - producer

More from Martyn Bates: full discography