Isaac Martinez – 10 Country Songs – Self-Released – Out Now

RIYL: Elliott Smith, Sufjan Stevens, Beck, MJ Lenderman, Phoebe Bridgers

“I’m working to become a better person for my wife and son. Music is the major side quest, you know?”

Denver-based musician Isaac Martinez is the man behind this candid remark. It is a compelling truth about the reality of life for any successful father who is also a songwriter seeking success.

Summing up Martinez’s ceaselessly creative and complicated career is nearly impossible. He began composing songs at the age of 11, appropriated the guitar his father had bought for his sister soon after, and was studying the instrument in a conservatory by high school.

Martinez is prolific to the point of confusion, and his tendency to obsessively work on material for years in a multitude of genres, then release it, and then mysteriously wipe it from the internet, is part of his artistic charm.

Regardless, some tunes are too important not to last.

For the first time, following years of operating under aliases, more than a dozen DIY releases since 2016 alone, and a detour to Los Angeles that spawned a Brockhampton and Beatles-inspired band that had just enough momentum after four years to justify an implosion, Martinez has finally released the work he is most proud of.

He should be.

10 Country Songs is the first record that Martinez feels worthy of being dropped under what he refers to as his “government” name. The album was produced by Martinez alongside the A-list assistance of engineers Andy Flebbe (Green Day) and Grammy®-winner Jerry Ordonez (Bon Iver, Waxahatchee).

True to Martinez’s eclectic nature, the album’s title is a tiny red herring as the record isn’t even necessarily ten country songs.

It is an amalgam of the unsorted and ubiquitous intellectual and emotional influences on Martinez (including those of his wife, son, and relationship with God) and his just-as-many musical ones. It represents what matters most to Martinez, i.e., not “side quests.”

Your eyes might glaze over while listening to Martinez gush about influences on his sound as disparate as Shoegaze, Garage Rock, IDM, Alternative, Americana, Math Rock, Hip-Hop, Pop,and, yes, Cou ntry. It’s a lot to take in. Better to have your eyes water while listening to Martinez’s music. It’s also a lot to take in but in the best way.

“How much can I tell you to show you I love you? Anything I could say! How much could I given to you to show you I meant it? Anything God could make!,” Martinez sings on one of the album’s stellar standout tracks “Infinite Water Glitch”.

The song would ring true as a tear-jerking love tune on its face, but when taken with Martinez’s

previously stated family priorities, his commitment to his instrument, and the acknowledgment of faith that led it to your ears, this composition becomes world-class.

“I believe musical ability is a God-given gift granted generously amongst the people,” he explains. “It is like a soup of truths that overtakes an entire sense.”

Martinez’s wife Zoe offers some truth soup, too. Without her insistence, what turns out to be one of Martinez’s signature songs may not have even been made.

“I was playing ‘Time Passes’ at open mics while Zoe was pregnant with our first child. She wanted a recording that sounded as good as it did live.” This request led Martinez to the studio. The results are glorious. The warm atmosphere created by the song’s heavenly piano touches, combined with Martinez’s close-miked vocal and underpinned by an insistent snare propelling his overdubbed harmonies, is absolutely haunting.

“And time passes on your favorite music, 100 years from now, will they be singing the songs your parents sang or will they even remember how?”

With this tune, Martinez is giving his “major side quest” a significant chance at success.

10 Country Songs by Isaac Martinez is streaming everywhere now. Martinez will release an all-new standalone single, “Falling Backwards,” on April 4, 2025.