Martin Rossiter
The Defenestration of St. Martin
Release Date: Dec 3, 2012
Genre(s): Britpop, Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock
Record label: Drop Anchor!
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Album Review: The Defenestration of St. Martin by Martin Rossiter
Great, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Gene were a scandalously overlooked Britpop era band with critics failing to see pass the lame and lazy Oasis wannabe stereotypes that they pigeonholed Gene with. In truth Martin Rossiter was always a consummate songsmith and this is borne out in his solo debut album The Defenstration of St Martin.This is a cut to quick, stripped bare, raw account of St Martin, his life, his love, his strengths and his failings. All of this is evidenced in the ten-minute-plus opening salvo “Three Points on a Compass” where he intones that “The only thing / I got from you / Was my name” just piano and a searingly honest voice.
Based on rating 4/5
Martin Rossiter fronted Gene, a foppish, Smiths-y quartet who sold 1m records in the Britpop era without troubling Oasis or Blur. Since then, fatherhood, depression and music teaching have led to this surprise reemergence. Opener Three Points on a Compass is Resister's withering address to the father who left when he was young. "The only thing I ever got from you was my name/ You broke our home, and I will never forgive," he sings, the harrowing words belied by the song's eerie beauty.
Based on rating 8/10
“There are no pearls,” sings Martin Rossiter at the start of his solo debut, his first record since breaking up alt rockers Gene. He’s lying: The Defenestration of St. Martin - poncy title aside - is so pearly you could make traditional cockney costume out of it. Recorded after spending a decade in the wilderness (that is, working as a music tutor), it’s a gut-wrenching, warts-and-all one-man tantrum, which features only the Welsh lilt of its composer and an expertly played piano.
Based on rating 7/10
Gene lead singer -- and for most intents and purposes, their flat-out leader -- Martin Rossiter returned to action in 2012 via assistance from the fan-funding site Pledge Music, releasing the stark, intimate The Defenestration of St. Martin toward the end of the year. Gene never sounded this spare -- they were a guitar band, after all -- and the unadorned instrumentation naturally forces attention on Rossiter's writing, particularly his lyrics.
Opinion: Fantastic
A high-quality, stripped-back solo debut from the Gene frontman. David Quantick 2012 In the mid- to late-1990s, the UK rejected American grunge for a massive national chart wave of wry, guitary commercial indie music, that the press labelled Britpop for fun and profit. In reality, Britpop was an imaginary triangle between the genuine success of Blur, Oasis and (to a slightly lesser extent) Pulp.