As concerts, festivals and gigs across the globe are being cancelled and the music industry is taking a massive hit due to lockdown, one man is successfully pushing against the tide. Faraway Martin is emerging as a major player on both the national and international music scene.
His third single, The Lights Turn On has made it on to the RTÉ Recommends list and has been described as “stunning” by 2FM DJ Dan Hegarty.
The song tells the story of a couple’s life together and it brings you on a journey from when they first meet through to the end, at which point the poignant final lines include, “the lights turn off”. The song has proven to really connect with the listener and the soft vocals and catchy melody will have you humming this song in your sleep.
A short flirtationship with a jockey career
Listening to his voice, you might think that Faraway Martin, his real name Martin Farragher, was born to play music, but as a youngster, he had a rather different idea.
He grew up on his parents’ cattle and sheep farm just outside Ballinrobe in Co Mayo. Eventually, his parents decided to make a change to the farm and turned their focus to horses.
My parents got into racehorses about that time
“I was mad into horse racing and from the age of about 12, I worked at a local stables. The owner would bring me to the races and I would be mucking out at the weekends. My parents got into racehorses about that time too,” says Martin.
As a teenager, being a jockey was the only thing that he could see himself doing. At 16 years old, he travelled to the Tattersalls horse sales in Newmarket.
“Dad left me there for a week with a horse trainer, so I was riding out these horses in Newmarket and it was a dream come true for me.”
Unfortunately, it was shortly after this that Martin realised that he simply didn’t have the physique of a jockey and he would have to make new plans.
Luckily, Martin also enjoyed music and playing guitar and got involved in a number of local bands including Quality Street. Although he has a great voice, he never felt confident in his own song-writing abilities.
Culture in abundance
Eventually, Martin left Mayo and headed for Doha in Qatar, where he spent four years living and working as a music teacher. One summer, during the school holidays, Martin embarked on a busking tour of Italy, travelling from city to city.
“I picked Italy because I had a friend in Milan, but there was also a Damien Rice concert on that I wanted to go to,” explains Martin.
“I couldn’t have busked in Galway because I’d know too many people, but the experience in Italy was a great confidence boost,” he says.
Martin did get to the Damien Rice gig, but he also managed to blag his way backstage. “I ended up meeting Damien Rice and playing with him after the gig, it was bizarre,” he smiles.
That’s when I realised that this song-writing stuff might work, and maybe my voice isn’t that bad
An avid traveller, Martin says that once, he was taking part in an open-mic night in Nashville when a producer approached him after the gig.
The following day, Martin found himself in a studio recording his second single, Falling in Your Sleep. “That’s when I realised that this song-writing stuff might work, and maybe my voice isn’t that bad,” says the musician.
Martin returned to Doha to continue teaching for one more year and it was at this point that he adopted the moniker Faraway Martin.
“As a school teacher, I didn’t want all my students finding me online,” he laughs. “Plus the fact that I was living far away and it resembles my name, so that’s what I went with.”
Since he finished teaching in Doha, Martin has put all his efforts into creating music and regularly plays to packed venues in his Middle-Eastern second home. Martin now divides his time between Doha and Ireland.
The current plan
Although, The Lights Turn On is Martin’s third single, he regards this song to be “the one that really connected with people”. He has drawn on influences from Irish ballads and artists such as Damien Rice and Christy Moore.
“One thing they all have is good storytelling, I wanted to do a nice love ballad without it being too in your face, but also had loss in it, like a real Irish tale,” he says.
The song has an unmistaken depth that can be difficult for young musicians to reach, so Martin looked closer to home for his lyrics, drawing on his family’s experiences with life and loss. The Lights Turn On was written a long time before the pandemic emerged and incorporates the loneliness of a widow’s loss, which resonates with listeners now more than ever.
It’s been a slow climb
The single had been scheduled for release this month, with a pre-release tour taking place in Doha at the end of March and a Live at the Library gig planned in Ballinrobe for Easter Sunday, all of which have been postponed. The first single from the self-titled debut EP, is now scheduled for release in September. “It’s been a slow climb, but I’m very happy with the way things are going,” says Martin.
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