Fades EP

All these songs are simple melodies and lyrics, performed in uncomplicated forms and recorded with an unintentionally lofi approach, such that the songs rely solely on any quality of the lyrics or melodies for their survival.

The songs are now “there” for anyone who would enjoy the time spent listening to them.  Motivations such as live performance, fame, or fortune, have in no way impinged on their development, for better or worse.

A Second Moon - The Most Beautiful Things EP

Parting EP

Recorded in Cork (1995) & Dublin (1996) as John Martin

John Martin - the hiding ep

Fades Away

Tomorrow

Hiding Away (John Martin

Hats And Silence (John Martin)

04 - Over The Hill

03 - Dont Say

02 - Greener Grass

01 - Happiest In The Class

I think this song tries to capture that lovely feeling that can strike in an instant, when everything seems to go from being difficult and a struggle, to suddenly being uplifting and full of positivity.  It can happen for any number of reasons – seeing a shaft of sunlight; seeing someone we know smiling at us; anything, but when it happens, it sends a gush of positivity that can actually be quite powerful.  I thought that might be worth trying to write a song about.  But maybe, as the first verse probably shows, there aren't really words that can describe it.

Sunny Day

Around the time I composed this in 1996, I was listening to a lot of Van Morrison's music, and was really struck by the power of fusing poetic lyrics with simple melodies.  I felt I lacked the ability myself, though,  to write something really truly poetic, so having been introduced to the poems of Paul Durcan by my sister, I decided to choose a poem of his.  I chose Martha without any hesitation, and for me, it completely worked, and resonated with my own thoughts (although, it would be another 15 years before I found my own idea of heaven...).

My Idea Of Heaven [Martha by PDurcan]

This song was written in 1995, on the back of a cigarette box at about 4am in the Rob Roy Bar in Cobh.  I think it simply describes the feelings that emerge towards the end of a long night out with a close-knit group of friends, especially when there are tense or emotive interactions or dynamics within the group.  There certainly were that night, and I hope that the mood of the lyric reflects that emotionally drained feeling, which I still remember.

And So Am I

In 1998, having moved from Dublin back to Cork, I was struggling a little bit with a new life when, through a friend of a friend, I became close to a group of fifteen or twenty people who, for whatever reason, were on the very same wavelength as I was at that time.  I moved into a house with a few of them and spent about four months going out with them almost every night - really getting to know them.  I was recently single, and their friendship and company were just what I needed.  I genuinely think some of those days were the best fun I've ever had.


The timing wasn't great, though, and many of them started planning to move to Australia for a few years.  I suppose the song, therefore, is bitter-sweet – finding a new circle of friends, but preparing to say goodbye to them at the same time.  In the end, I ended up following them out within a few months of their leaving, and I'm happy to say that most of them have remained extremely good friends to this day...

From These Days

Recorded in Dublin (1996) as John Martin.

Tell Me (John Martin)

Homeland (John Martin)

an experimental piece with no real beginning, middle or end.

Rummaging

A solo project whose foundations comprise four core building blocks: a love of music, a keen interest in technology, a near-to-mid-life crisis, and a pile of old songs and lyrics from University days that have heretofore not been released to the light of day.  Entirely the produce of one individual, the songs of “a second moon” are spoiled by neither the touch of accomplished musicianship nor professional production.  They instead have emerged from bumbled handling that manifests as a blended array of errors, rather than any sort of specific style.  Such errors have become fused into their output along the amateur process, from composition and writing to recording, mixing and mastering.

a second moon

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