Martin Carr, the visionary creative force behind The Boo Radleys and bravecaptain, has unveiled a hauntingly beautiful new single that bridges decades of musical history. “Connie Converse Is Playing At My House,” released today via his Cardiff-based Sonny Boy Records, arrives alongside a self-directed animated music video that captures the mysterious essence of its subject.
The track marks the first release from Carr’s forthcoming solo album What Future, described as a collection of distracted beats and messy electronics. But it’s the deeply personal story behind the song that truly captivates.
Carr’s journey into Connie Converse’s world began unexpectedly with a true crime podcast. “That was the first time I had heard the name Connie Converse and within a week I had listened to her songs a thousand times,” he recalls. The pioneering 1950s singer-songwriter, who vanished without a trace in 1974 at age 50, struck a profound chord with the multi-talented artist.
“I really connected to her personal and self-effacing lyrics, there is a yearning in her songs that I recognise in my own,” Carr explains. His obsession deepened as he devoured Howard Fishman’s excellent book To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse, immersing himself in the enigma of a woman who was decades ahead of her time.
The song itself was born from a dream—one where Converse performed in Carr’s kitchen, “making beautiful and strange noises on a huge old Moog synth.” It’s a fitting surreal image for an artist who defies conventional boundaries as songwriter, guitarist, filmmaker, and graphic artist.
Carr’s animated video adds another layer to the tribute, featuring visual references including Converse’s Volkswagen Beetle—the car she packed before driving away from her Michigan home into permanent mystery. The animation style complements the unconventional sonic landscape, creating a dreamlike meditation on creativity, disappearance, and artistic kinship across time.
Converse, who recorded intimate, sophisticated folk songs in Greenwich Village during the 1950s, quit music in 1961 after failing to find mainstream success. Her rediscovered recordings have since influenced artists including Anna & Elizabeth and The Unthanks, establishing her as a “great lost talent” whose work resonates with contemporary musicians.
With “Connie Converse Is Playing At My House,” Martin Carr joins this growing chorus of admirers, offering perhaps the most meta tribute yet—a song about dreaming of a lost artist, created by an artist who clearly understands the solitary nature of making wildly original music that may only find its audience years later.