Stripped-back songs reveal their inner strength as veteran Welsh singer, Martyn Joseph, keeps it simple.

Release Date: 7th November 2025

Format: CD / LP / digital

Label: Pipe Records

WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED?

An acoustic guitar, a harmonica, and a microphone; what else do you need? You can apply a lot of terms to the new record by Welsh songsmith Martyn Joseph: back to basics, minimalist, as-live, stripped back – take your pick. Martyn himself perhaps sums it up best: “On these new songs I feel like I’ve captured something … as if I’m performing right there in the room for whoever has shown up.”

These 11 tracks are all recorded with the utmost simplicity; only one has even a hint of an overdub. When you remove all the niceties of production and multi-tracking it reveals the songs themselves, naked on the tape. If you are going to do that, the songs had better be strong. And fortunately these are very strong indeed.

ACOUSTIC SPRINGSTEEN

The accompanying press release is keen to make comparisons with an acoustic Bruce Springsteen, and certainly there is something in that with his slightly gruff voice. You could also quote Chris Rea, but maybe that’s not quite as cool. And of course the guitar-and-harmonica immediately puts you in mind of pre-electric Dylan whether you want it to or not.

Being startlingly original with these simple ingredients is not really possible, but that’s not the objective here. You want well-structured songs, with a great melody and intriguing lyrics. You want a great variety of guitar styles. Plus you want choruses you can imagine humming along to when watching live. Troubled Horses delivers these in spades.

GREAT POPULAR MUSIC

The album opens with Let Me Hear Your voice which sets out the template: nice tune, catchy chorus, harmonica solo, all done and dusted inside three minutes. There is a reason why songs used to all be aiming for this – it’s just great popular music.

A Song And A Psalm is one of those songs about the song itself: “I’m looking for a song which illuminates now.” Very meta. Next up is Eternal Wandering; one of the album’s highlights both musically, with some delicious chord changes, and lyrically: “Maybe doubt is just belief that’s been set free?“

Martyn is well known for his activism and campaigning, so the title track, Troubled Horses, addressing some hot issues of our time is no surprise – “there’s no country to ‘want back’ if we’ve all come from elsewhere.” An excellent tune and compelling words.

CULTURAL REFERENCES

On Last Night I Heard America he joins forces with long-term collaborator and lyricist Stewart Henderson for a run through US musical iconography – see how many references you can spot! It ends with a plea for America to come home “before everything gives way.”

I Wonder I Do’s staccato rhythm and occasionally falsetto chorus changes things up, although you can’t help wondering if the kid he references as having a ‘gee-tar’ in his hand might have pronounced it differently in south Wales!

I’m Getting Older will strike a chord with all of us in our sixties – “I’m getting older / but it’s not so bad / I’ve got a heart full of gratitude / for all I have.” Mary’s Tears shifts gear and tells the story of Mary Magdalen from the perspective of a former lover: “Mary I said don’t go, it will only end in tears.”

The chorus of In A World That Breaks Your Heart will I’m sure have the audience joining in when performed live, and it sees the album’s sole concession to multi-tracking with a harmony vocal.

TEAR TO THE EYE

Finally in Let’s Take Care of Us Joseph sings to his “cariad” (at last some Welshness!) that despite everything that might go wrong, as long as they have each other then ‘We’ll be fine’. His almost whispered chorus brings a tear to the eye and brings the album to a beautiful end.

It takes something special to conjure something great out of such well-trodden boards as these, but Joseph has managed it here. A fine album. This record sounds so good ‘as live’ that I can only imagine hearing it genuinely live will be extraordinary. Joseph is touring it nationwide until February, check his website for dates.

Here’s Let Me Hear Your Voice:

Martyn Joseph online:  Website / Facebook / X – formerly Twitter / Instagram

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