Melancholically melodic Merthyr Tydfil duo Martyrs released Church Street, the seventh in a series of ten EPs, earlier this year and today we’re delighted to bring you the first chance to see the lyric video for the latest single to be released from it.
The EP focuses in on small town life, and in keeping with the band’s DIY ethos was recorded by the duo in echoing kitchens and cluttered attics on the Kentish coast over a period of two years.
‘He Breaks Horses’ is inspired by the Merthyr Rising of 1831, which as the accompanying captions explain saw up to 10,000 people march against low pay, unfair working conditions and the debtor’s court, and saw the red flag raised for the first time as a symbol of working class resistance. Reports suggest that as many as 24 marches were murdered by armed soldiers.
Michael says “It was months of research, dozens of pages of notes and ideas, a lot of learning in the process of getting the lyric right. You don’t want to do the memory of those involved a disservice by taking it lightly. I hope we’ve done them justice. We’re proud to make politicised music.”
The track strikes the right tone, the spectral vocals providing the emotional focal point to a dramatic musical backdrop which in John’s words includes “Spaghetti Western Guitar, Madchester bass, 80s Pro Wrestling entrance pomp, a full orchestra, metal power chords. It’s the most “Martyrs” arrangement we’ve done.”
As someone unfamiliar with this important milestone in the history of class struggle, the choice of a stark black and white lyric video gave an opportunity to focus on the lyrical content and its depiction of the events, emotions and impact of the Rising and its brutal suppression. It’s an eye-opening track that will hopefully bring more people to follow up with their own research into a local incident which reverberated around the globe.
Church Street EP is out now via Bandcamp
Martyrs: Website / Instagram / Bluesky
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