Martin Carr first made a name for himself in the early ’90s as the guitarist/songwriter of the Boo Radleys, whose Everything’s Alright Forever (1992), Giant Steps (1993) and Wake Up! (1995) remain essential listening from the Britpop era. The Boos disbanded in 1999, and Carr began releasing records under the bravecaptain moniker for the better part of a decade before issuing Ye Gods (And Little Fishes) under his own name in 2009. Carr is back with third solo LP New Shapes Of Life (Tapete), a compact, sophisticated and personal pop album inspired in part by the death of David Bowie. Carr will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week.
Carr: Painted in oils by Francis Bacon in 1970, this was a (triptych) painting I spent a lot of time with last year when my isolation and self-examination peaked. A landscape that is both free to wander and impossible to escape. The figures inhabit a distorted reality, half in/half out of the cage like structure that surrounds them. It feels to me that all the action is happening inside the head of the figure; the two side panels show him shaving, but in the middle panel the mirror is dark so he reads a newspaper. I see the mirror as inspiration. Sometimes there is nothing there and all you can do is wait.
