Martyn Bates
You So Secret
(IR 004, 1989, Ep12”)

Review 1

by Bob Stanley (Melody Maker, May 27 1989)

If any single this week deserved to be on the Midnight Music label then this is it. Martyn, once angst-ridden wailer for Eyeless In Gaza has turned wandering minstrel on us, forsaking his atmos-psychopop of old for a moody Elektra ’67 approach. Tailormade to haunt the heart, ‘You So Secret’ is a softcore acoustic rhapsody, layered with some truly creepy effects which happily seem to come from hitherto unheard ethnic instruments and not a keyboard. When a record can manoeuvre moments of complete silence this well, you know it must be special.