Walter Martin - The Bear (2022)

As a solo artist, Martin exists in a peculiar space outside the traditional music industry, a place that’s allowed him to remain remarkably pure, if largely under the radar. Eight albums in, though, and he finds himself breaking through despite his best efforts. Take a listen to The Bear and you’ll see why. There’s obvious touchstones from past generations—Jonathan Richman, Randy Newman, the kind of artists who’ve followed their own voice to create unique universes independent of the ebb and flow of the culture at large—but one would be hard pressed to find a contemporary songwriter quite like Martin, who’s released a wide and striking body of music over the last decade: some serious, some humorous, some for children, some definitely for midlife crises, but all with a singular perspective that hits at something bittersweet and human. At the heart of Martin’s work is a plainspoken sense of wonder and beauty and gratitude, a take on life that feels both funny and sad and somehow manages to leave you feeling genuinely okay about the fact that we’re all going to die.

“The Bear feels like the kind of album I’ve been building towards for my entire career,” Martin reflects. “I don’t think I’ve had the nerve to be this honest, this autobiographical before, but more than anything I’ve ever written, these songs explain who I am and why I make this stuff.”