Martin Luke Brown Talks Solo Tour & ‘Not Being Scared To Be Shit’

Martin Luke Brown. Image credit - Nic Loucaides

‘It's really stifling to write with people when they're so hell-bent on making it cool.’

Martin Luke Brown is a British songwriter, producer, and independent artist. After being signed at 21, he has written and produced music for numerous well-known names alongside his own projects, including Lizzy McAlpine, Nick Wilson, Dylan, and Nectar Woode. 

Now in his early thirties, 2025 marks a new era for MLB, with a return to his solo roots. After a successful album and touring cycle in dream-pop band FIZZ alongside bandmates Dodie, Orla Gartland, and Greta Isaac, MLB is heading back to the stage with new album, ‘man oh man’. 

Ahead of his largest shows across the UK, Europe, and the US, The Groove spoke to the Leicester-born musician to discuss the album and how it feels to be heading back on the road under a single spotlight.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Interviewer: So it’s 11 shows, and your first headline US shows – how does that feel?

MLB: I think initially when we booked it, I was excited. Now I'm just really anxious! I feel very exposed. It's me, bassist, drummer, and my manager… it’ll be like ripping off a band aid.

Is there a song you're most excited to play?

MLB: I don't know… because cultures are so different. I enjoy all of the songs in different ways, but in the moment, it's always the ones that everyone else enjoys the most. I'm intrigued to know what resonates more in different places and why people have come to the shows.

How far back into your music is your setlist going?

MLB: To ‘Damn, Look At The View.’ It’s funny… I’m really feeling the experience of lots of different chapters in life recently. Being the age I am, whenever you’re playing a set, it's like a guided tour through your adult life. I don't think I've ever experienced that. Before it was just like this is my current life, whereas now, it sometimes feels like you're singing about someone else.

I wanted to ask about a couple of songs from ‘man oh man’. One is ‘say less’ – it's very different from everything else you've put out, how did you come up with that one?

MLB: I'd been in a relationship for so long where we’d communicate to the nth degree, in a way that was almost too descriptive, overly therapised. Communication is great, but there's also a lack of trust if you have to explain everything. Where that whole song was coming from is ‘you say more when you say less’ because you’re just trusting that someone understands you.

The guy I've produced the album with, Matt Zara, is a phenomenal producer, musician, and he’s obsessed with the hemispheres of the brain. I’m going on a real side quest here… but effectively the left hemisphere is ‘utility’, so putting everything into boxes, whereas the right hemisphere is more fluid and can understand the concept of the grey area.

There's this example of a child pointing up like ‘wow what is that flying, squawking thing in the sky, it's so magical and amazing’, and his dad is like ‘that's a crow’. Technically the dad is correct, but in a way, by ‘knowing’ it's a crow, he's forgotten that it’s a magical flying bird. 

“The knowing actually stops the experiencing. We’re all logic and reason and maths, rather than feeling and moving and expressing. And actually, those things are so much more important and human.”

It's almost like the knowing actually stops the experiencing. We're all logic and reason and maths, rather than feeling and moving and expressing. And actually, those things are so much more important and human. In ‘say less’ I think where I'm getting at is… words are just words, but living and experiencing is everything.

I think you sum it up in the line ‘you speak my language, shut up, you understand me’. They’re completely conflicting statements, but they also kind of make sense.

MLB: I remember when I was writing it, I sent it to someone, like, is this offensive and misogynistic, or is it kind of romantic? I couldn't figure out where the line was.

I also wanted to talk about ‘this love's gonna go nowhere’. It’s really nice to hear a song that acknowledges that things haven’t worked, but from a place of love.

MLB: That one's definitely the closest to home, and a classic example of ‘if you love them let them go’. I enjoyed the title because it means this love’s not going anywhere, so we're stopping, but also this love's there and it remains. They’re also kind of conflicting, but both make sense.

You’re playing EartH in London, is that your biggest headline solo show to date?

MLB: Oh yeah, by a mile.

How are you feeling about that?

MLB: Definitely nervous. It’s a big stage and a big room, it’s very noticeably a step up into a show, you know? It feels like a different genre that I'm not used to. I have to really expand and take up more space. I've maybe played the odd festival stage and tried it out, but even then, people don't really know your music, you're half auditioning for the audience. I think it will be emotionally quite an interesting experience because there'll be a lot of love coming from the crowd, but also a lot of insecurity from me.

“I’m not that interested in writing with people that are already really successful. What’s joyous for me is finding people that have drive and grit and real life heart and soul to write about.”

You write a lot with other artists – who would be your dream collaboration?

MLB: Interesting... I like to think about this kind of stuff all the time, but I don't know who's the ultimate one. I do my artist project as catharsis. I'm writing about my real life, making music I really like. I think my dream collaborations are the people that really see and understand me.

Maybe I'll sound a bit self-centered, but that is how I think collaboration works really well – when you both know each other first and secondly, as a result, trust each other. That's where you can afford to take risks. I'm not that interested in writing with people who are already really successful. What's joyous for me is finding people who have drive and grit and real-life heart and soul to write about.

Speaking of, you recently worked with James Smith on ‘Jesus is a Woman’. How was that?

MLB: Really fun, James is a really good example of that. We've written pretty consistently over 10 years, and there is so much trust there. The idea of that whole thing being so silly, you wouldn't necessarily do that with someone you don't know because you'd be a bit self-conscious about it, you know?

Yeah, it's having the freedom to be brave.

MLB: And I think that's where good stuff comes; not being scared to be shit! If you write a song and it's shit, it doesn't matter. It bounces off you. I actually think that's a really good philosophy of how to be creative. It's really stifling to write with people when they're so hell-bent on making it cool, because it just sounds sterile and lifeless then.

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Martin Luke Brown’s ‘man oh man’ tour kicks off its UK leg in October. Tickets are available for shows in Manchester, Bristol, Brighton and London.