Released as a single last December and produced by Robin Guthrie. Watch the new video from HELIGOLAND + SHE OWL for their cover of John Martyn’s “Please Fall In Love With Me”. It’s a song that conveys a message of universal love, much needed nowadays.
In the summer of 1981, the maverick British singer/guitarist John Martyn entered Townhouse Studios in London to begin work on his eleventh studio album, Glorious Fool. Among the songs he recorded was “Please Fall In Love With Me,” a tender ballad that was somewhat overshadowed by the drumming of producer Phil Collins. Although Glorious Fool was relatively successful, this period of Martyn’s career often provokes mixed feelings. “Please Fall In Love With Me” failed to chart as a single and seldom appears in any list of Martyn’s most popular work. Nonetheless, there are often gems to be found away from the limelight, especially in a discography as rich and deep as Martyn’s.
This sentiment certainly proved to be true for Karen Vogt, vocalist for the Australian dream pop group Heligoland. In the summer of 2019, Vogt, already a fan of Martyn, was immersing herself in his back catalogue when she came across “PFILWM.” Vogt was entranced by the song and began experimenting with a cover version, her first idea being to slow the song down and bring Martyn’s lyrics to the fore. Her second idea was to email a friend: Jolanda Moletta, vocalist and pianist for the Italian dark-folk duo She Owl.
Vogt’s email was quickly answered and a dreamy, highly atmospheric cover began to take shape with Moletta deftly reworking the arrangement on piano and keyboards. The next step was to perform the song as part of a concert in Paris at the end of 2019. This was also an opportunity to bring in She Owl’s Demian Endian, who added his trademark understated, elegant guitar playing and backing vocals to the project. From there, the plan was to record the song in Berlin, where She Owl are based, but the pandemic put paid to that idea. Instead, the groups recorded their parts at home in Paris and Berlin.
These recordings were beautifully mixed by Robin Guthrie, who also contributed a layer of drum loops and shimmering percussion, the perfect counterpoint to the interwoven vocal harmonies, sparkling guitar melodies, and graceful keyboard parts. The result is a gorgeous new version of “PLFILWM” that taps into the tenderness of Martyn’s words and recasts them against a lush and immersive musical backdrop. As the voices of Vogt, Moletta, and Endian repeat the closing lyrics—“I want to fall in love with the world, I want the world to fall in love”—it’s hard not to feel that four decades after the song was first released, Martyn’s aspirations have never seemed more timely or resonant.
They shared the following on the video: “We selected footage from old Super 8 home movies and I edited it together in a way that shows how similar we all are. I wanted to highlight the ways in which people are united as we fall in love with the world and with each other. Even though the footage is old, there are many moments that we all can relate to – enjoying a sunset, dancing, playing music, being with family and friends and appreciating all the good memories that we hold dear. Small things are the ones connecting us.”
Heligoland + She Owl’s Please Fall In Love With Me is available via Bandcamp:
https://sheowl.bandcamp.com/ | https://heligoland.bandcamp.com/