Floridian artist Kerri Martin has a specific goal in mind when constructing her music: crafting real and honest expressions that can help listeners navigate through their own lives.
Self-producing all of her own music, Kerri Martin truly highlights a one-woman kind of artist, and is able to intentionally frame her music with all of the components she feels is necessary. With a persistent style of structure, as well as thought-provoking lyricism, Kerri Martin is able to leave a lasting impression with her amicable sound, ultimately leaving listeners in a state of contemplation. One of her most reflect soul-searching EP releases includes "Haunting Me", which covers many emotive entities, all while maintaining peace and harmony.
There's most definitely a methodical approach that Kerri Martin took when constructing "Haunting Me". The very first track off the record, "I Can't Believe The I Love You's" hones in on vulnerability and the level of influence that can come as a result of heartbreak. With such a potent and powerful theme, "I Can't Believe The I Love You's" feels incredibly affecting, which mainly sources itself from the level of emotion portrayed in the vocalism of Kerri Martin. She's able to present herself with the appropriate affection, all while remaining poised and confident with her wording.
The following track, "Her", has a similar level of sentiment, but feels much more light-hearted. The production of "Her" is what establishes a very serene and tranquil ambiance, bringing many varying levels of warmth to the ears and hearts of listeners. Kerri Martin has the type of vocalism that lightly touches you, and that mainly extends from her calm level of vocal control. There does come a time within "Her" that feels like the enthusiasm was ramped up in a balanced way due to the integrated level of instrumental orchestrations.
We're brought into a more delicate embrace with the EP's third track, "Haunting Me". There's a slight cinematic feel to the way Kerri Martin contracts her vocals in this track, which allows the effect of the song to feel all that more prominent. "Haunting Me" is a great opportunity for Kerri to highlight her weaving dynamic as a music artist, and this mainly comes from her ability to develop a certain seasoned vocal performance. There are many chances to sing along, daydream off, or soak in the actualities of "Haunting Me". Such actualities being the level of influence a certain person can have on another, including the painful scars left behind with past lovers.
The theme of the EP becomes all too clear with "Haunting Me", and chances are the majority of listeners will be able to relate to the reminiscent pain of Kerri Martin. "Finish Line" is the last and final track on Kerri's EP, "Haunting Me". The production increases in luminescence, bringing flavourful instrumentals to light. With a chimeric tone and impassioned lyricism, "Finish Line" offers bursts of hope and chances of encouragement.
There's a respectable amount of honesty that goes into "Finish Line", and Kerri Martin becomes extremely relatable in the sense that she brings topics to light that some of us may not put much mindfulness towards. And, in essence, that really is the takeaway from Kerri's entire EP: putting forth thought-provoking lyricism into lush and chordal orchestrations of sound.
All in all, "Haunting Me" allowed us to appreciate the aesthetic Kerri Martin brings to light with her theatrical style, and we've taken tons of learning lessons away from this songstress wisdom.
Hello Kerri, welcome to BuzzMusic, thank you for chatting with us about your EP release. There's such a clear and potent theme presented within "Haunting Me". For our readers who haven't tuned in yet, can you describe (without giving too much away) the core attitude and outlook "Haunting Me" possess? “Haunting Me” is an EP of four tracks each showing a different perspective on the role of vulnerability in relationships. Whether it's through a loss of trust, wanting to hold onto someone that isn’t there, or the fear that comes with falling in love, a common theme of vulnerability is present. The songs on this track not only come from a vulnerable place within myself, but I think everyone shares these feelings in their own way, and that's something that comes across in this release. Your EP definitely delved into many heartfelt topics that offer chances of reminiscence and introspection. Were these the effect you were hoping to have on your listeners in the big-picture of "Haunting Me"? What kind of impression were you hoping to impart to your listeners with this release? In the process of creating this EP, I didn’t focus on an overall impression of the release as much as I wanted to tell each individual song as a story. For example, in the song “Haunting Me”, I wanted an eerie, daunting feeling so I added wind sounds and heavy drums. Differently, in the song “Her”, I wanted to convey a fragile and reflective mood. The instrumentation of strings, brass, and harmonies help to bring that message across. Once I arranged the four tracks into an EP, they ended up giving an impression of reminiscence and introspection because they were each given their own space to develop as a not only a song but also a story. What kind of lessons did you learn yourself that stimulated the manifestation of "Haunting Me?" This EP was written over the span of a year, and I have learned countless lessons at that time. One example is in the song “Haunting Me”. The lyrics state “I can’t love you back together if you don’t love me”. The lesson learned here was that you can love somebody and still know it's not healthy to be with them. Outside of personal lessons, I have learned so much about the music business in the past year. Hours of research and trial and error have contributed to what I’ve learned in regards to recording, gigging, and promotional techniques. Out of the four tracks presented on "Haunting Me", which track do you personally feel had more of an effect on you during the writing and recording process? The song “Her” still gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. The story this song is about has grown and developed since I had originally written it and the piece takes on a new meaning when I sing or hear it now. The writing and recording process for this song happened so slow and then all at once. When I created “Her”, I actually wrote the lyrics in my room late at night with no instruments. In the morning, I picked up a guitar and matched chords with the melody that was in my head. Months later when deciding to record it as a track for the EP, all of the instruments and sound poured in at once. The full song existed in my mind long before it was pieced together to become the track you hear today. There's something about that song that will always sit differently with me and that's what makes it so special. What has been keeping you inspired in 2020? For so many people, and musicians especially, 2020 has been just terrible. I was definitely on an uphill climb, gigging locally, and being really active in my community before the pandemic started. However, as a 17-year-old high school student, I didn’t lose anything that I absolutely needed. If anything, quarantine gave me the time that I had been wishing for so long. Music has always been a way to decompress from my busy lifestyle of high school and college classes as well as probably one too many extracurriculars. Having the whole world slow down has given me a chance to dig deeper into my music and myself as an artist. “Haunting Me” is an EP I’m extremely proud of and I accredit a lot of that to the hard work and hours that have been put into this release, whether through the collaborations with guitarists (Daniel Lopes and Marcelo Celi) as well as a mastering engineer (Endion Media) who brought these tracks to a new level.
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