Martin Ruby will release Heaven Get Behind Me on Nov. 20. It is his debut album, which was recorded on WhistlePig Records. The man behind Martin Ruby is Marco North. His journey has taken him from New York to Moscow.
It is probably not possible to understand the depth of North’s music without first knowing his story. He was brought up in the music scene of New York where he was surrounded by great musicians. North was granted an access I.D. to the World Trade Center and he played music there on a weekly basis.
North’s life took a dramatic turn when his two-year-old daughter was kidnapped by her mother and taken to Moscow. He followed them, rescued his daughter and took up residence in Moscow. It was around that time that he started writing the songs that would later become the Heaven Get Behind Me album.
North said he has been writing and performing for about 35 years. He said he began playing the saxophone when he was seven years old, but he knew he wanted to be an artist when he put the horn down and picked up a guitar when he was 30 years old.
North was influenced by Tom Waits, Charles Mingus, Vic Chesnutt, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and Daniel Lanois. North said that he was just happy to play wild and loud when it all began, but he eventually found a very sparse, personal place that he thinks is very inviting.
North calls the release of Heaven Get Behind Me “a massive life moment,” but he said it was “maddening” for him to try to pick a single from the album. “I make albums that are described as cinematic experiences – so, there is no obvious single. We gravitated towards the “biggest” sounding song that could stand on its own, but it was such a coin toss in the end,” he said.
North said that he hopes people are intrigued by the single and they are inspired to check out the whole album. “How can they know it is just the tip of the iceberg? I wish they could,” he said.
“Stone Blind Rain” is the track that North said is his favorite song on the album. “It’s a small song, and so simple – but I think it is a perfect snapshot of this guy’s emotions and thoughts during a heartbreaking moment in his life,” North said. “I also think the production on it really works without showing off.”
Although some artists choose to release one song at a time, North said that he prefers to make full albums. “I think they are like an amazing short story collection when you do them right. The individual fragments can line up in a really beautiful sequence and have this overwhelming effect if you get lucky,” he said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, North used the time to make “two insanely ambitious, complicated music videos to support the album.” In addition to being a singer and songwriter, North is also a filmmaker.
North said that he just launched a behind-the-song podcast, called SONGBIRD. “We talk through the writing and recording of one song on the album in each episode,” he said. “I make a point of being freakishly honest about my mistakes as much as the stuff I got right, it’s been exciting to hear how much people get out of it. We’re at songbirdpodcast.com.”