This week sees the release of Some Place Simple, a new album  by Martina Topley-Bird.

The singer and songwriter is best known for her vocal contributions to Tricky’s immortal Maxinquaye, recorded when she was still a schoolgirl; since then she’s lent her dulcet tones to Gorillaz and Massive Attack as well. As a solo artist she’s made two albums to date: Quixotic (2003) and The Blue God (2007), both released on Independiente. For the new record she’s signed to Honest Jon’s, the London-based label that’s recently released LPs from the likes of Actress, Trembling Bells and the Moritz Von Oswald Trio.

It’s a new record, yes, but one which finds Topley-Bird revisiting material from her previous solo albums, re-arranging and recording songs with the minimum of fuss – a contrast to The Blue God in particular, where her voice was somewhat smothered by Danger Mouse’s look-at-me production. That’s not to say that Some Place Simple, which was recorded live, is lacking in colour – ukelele, balofon, guitar, thumb piano and glockenspiel can be all heard in the mix, albeit played with minimalist restraint. There are also four brand new compositions included.

For more information and samples, click here.

Tracklist:
1. Baby Blue
2. Phoenix
3. Lying
4. Da Da Da
5. Orchids
6. Poison
7. Intro
8. Snowman
9. Sandpaper Kisses
10. All Day
11. Ilyah
12. Valentine
13. Too Tuff To Die
14. Kiss Kiss Kiss
15. Harpsichord Kiss