MARKETPLACE pleads for connection in new single "CHARLIE"

UK indie-rock band MARKETPLACE have delivered a dazzlingly charming and well-crafted exploration of one’s call to reconnect with another, recorded, fittingly, during a pandemic.

A rollicking guitar lick kicks off MARKETPLACE’s newest single, spiraling into colorful verses that blend a sonic mix of the wall of sound, the Sonic Adventure soundtrack, and late 2000s indie. There’s a feeling of exploration in the music that often gets lost in the synthesized tastes that have been so expertly filtered over the airwaves in the contemporary age. There’s a bit to love in each instrument’s tones, and the vocals are at once both pleading and soothing.

“Writing Charlie was a weird process for us. It all happened during lockdown so it was quite drawn out, even though most of the song came together in like a day or two. The song name came from my nephew Charlie, he’d only recently just been born I think and I’d really wanted to write a song with a name in the chorus and that just fit really well.” – Joel O’Beirne of MARKETPLACE

“I’m only human, why is life so complicated?” is a line that stood out in particular- a sort of calling card for much of the modern world’s struggles that can seem so insurmountable in a given instance. The chord progression of the chorus is itself a savory treat in the midst of the song’s dynamics, breaking out of the established world of the verses and employing some movement that helps “CHARLIE” breathe. The song fades out in a screeching distortion, not unlike Radiohead’s “Karma Police,” and the choice ends the song with just enough texture to leave a great aftertaste.