Marques Martin Shares 'Belles' Video

Maryland born, Marques Martin is set to release debut project, Brave and Afraid, on July 30th. "Belles" is the follow up to acclaimed singles, "Hailey" and "Candy."

Listen to Belles below!

As influenced by the directorial offerings of Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch as he is Rod Serling's Twilight Zone, Marques Martin, transfuses his passion for surreal cinematography into one of the most unique artistic expressions in urban music.

"Belles" is an infectious, melody driven and rhythmically defining gesture; his cadence pierces through and gives way to a lyrical motif concerning life's brevity and the necessity for one to embrace an identity that is solely his or her own. A lyrical stream of consciousness that channels introspection and an honest approach that is a true nod to his Hip-Hop roots.

Marques proves that he has a knack for creating ambitious works of art that melt away genre constructs for fluid, experimental appreciation. Such is his track record, working with other celebrated creatives AJ Radico, KeithCharles, Morian Thomas, Louis Browne, and UK based Skinny Macho across different aspects of art. And with a fusion of instrumentation including brass and Latin inspired rhythms, he pays homage to his great grandfather, Puerto Rican multi-instrumentalist and musical pioneer Ramon 'Moncho' Usera. Music is in his blood.

Influenced by Aldous Huxley's dystopic fiction, A Brave New World, the young artist creates a self-help, coming of age experience, song by song; he reflects on his position in continuum with a delicate balance of loneliness and audacity. Whilst alone with his id, amongst his coterie of friends and family, and within the larger realm of existence as a young black man, he explores themes of freedom, impulse and happiness with fearlessly welcoming and madcap creativity. His production, a genre mix of unique low-end sounds with fluid melodies from the best of pop and indie music, shows his prescient ability to portray heft with levity. Whether fate-driven lyrics in compositions, "About 2 Die" and "Belles," or darkly humorous feelings of unrequited love in "Hailey," he is unafraid to express. In "Dance Songs," an almost balladic and familiar feeling Hip-Hop track, he challenges 2020's positioning of music in the current landscape, quoting examples of over-saturation, commodification, and the resulting irrelevance that comes from ubiquity.

Marques Martin already has a mass of buzz around him, all garnered while not even having reached his prime, with the likes of i-D, NOTION, Complex, Highsnobiety, MIXMAG, and Respect.