Ripon, UK · folk · indie folk

Billie Marten

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Hushed English folk with a river-water voice — quietly one of the best writers of her generation, turning small domestic details into devastating songs.

Billie Marten, born Isabella Sophie Tweddle in 1999, grew up in Ripon in North Yorkshire; the stage name was chosen to protect her real identity once her career began in her early teens. She started playing guitar and singing around the age of seven, posting cover versions on her own YouTube channel mainly for grandparents living in France.

She came to wider attention at twelve when a session for a local Yorkshire YouTube channel, including a cover of Lucy Rose's "Middle of the Bed", drew thousands of views. She has said she did not understand at the time how quickly such attention could spread.

Signed to Chess Club Records and RCA at sixteen, she released her debut single "Ribbon", co-written with Fiona Bevan, through a Burberry curation programme, followed by an EP of the same name in 2014. A second EP, As Long As, appeared the following year, and she was nominated for the BBC Sound of 2016.

Her songs are built around acoustic guitar and a soft, close vocal, with arrangements that have grown more varied across her albums without losing their quiet centre. She writes in a plainspoken, observational register, often working from small domestic scenes and physical detail rather than direct statement.

She has released five full-length albums to date: Writing of Blues and Yellows, Feeding Seahorses by Hand, Flora Fauna, Drop Cherries and Dog Eared. Her recordings have moved between spare folk and fuller band settings, and she has continued to work with a range of producers while keeping the voice and guitar at the front.

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