LEE MARTIN UNVEILS HER MOST PERSONAL WORK YET WITH NEW ALBUM MARLENE
Ōtautahi-based singer-songwriter LEE MARTIN returns with her fourth studio album, MARLENE — a raw, deeply introspective body of work that traces the arc of a life lived, felt, and remembered.
While audiences around Aotearoa and beyond know her as Lee Martin, MARLENE reveals the artist behind the name. Marlene is her birth name — and for this album, she steps fully into it. Each song captures a different phase of her life, from childhood through to now, offering an unfiltered glimpse into the experiences, emotions, and moments that have shaped her.
“This album is me, completely,” Martin says. “It’s the most honest I’ve ever been in my music. Every song is a chapter, a version of myself I’ve lived through.”
Sonically, MARLENE leans into a rich country-soul landscape, drawing comparisons to the raw storytelling of artists like Zach Bryan, but delivered through Martin’s unmistakable voice — powerful, soulful, and deeply emotive.
The album includes one carefully chosen cover: Nikita. A song that sound-tracked many of Martin’s childhood nights, it holds a special place in her story. “That song carried me through a lot growing up. Including it felt like honouring a piece of what formed me.”
The album artwork is as layered as the music itself. A striking collage of eyes fills the cover — each one containing tiny, hidden images from Martin’s childhood and symbolic visuals tied to each track. It represents a life seen through her own lens. In a unique and intimate touch, vinyl copies of Marlene will include a magnifying glass, inviting listeners to quite literally look deeper into the stories within.
“It’s about perspective,” she explains. “These are my memories, my experiences — glimpses of life through my eyes.” At the heart of the album is the track ‘I’d Change It All’, which Martin describes as her personal favourite — a song that captures the emotional core of the project.
Martin drew together a slick band of local musicians to record MARLENE with Henare Kaa on Drums; Dru Sione on Bass/Keys/BV’s; Phil Doublet on Guitar and a stellar brass trio of Ben Lill on Saxophone; Sarah Hickman on Trumpet; and Aaron Chandler on Trombone. Recorded at Orange Studios in Christchurch, MARLENE was also produced by Henare Kaa, with Thom O’Connor on engineering and mixing duties.
Following the success of her charting third album Dreamers Dawn, MARLENE feels like both a culmination and a quiet turning point. While Martin isn’t making any definitive statements about what comes next, there’s an undeniable sense of reflection woven throughout the release — a feeling that this body of work is something she needed to say, in full, exactly as it is.
“I don’t know what comes after this,” Martin says. “But I do know that this album says everything I needed it to.”
MARLENE is more than an album — it’s a reckoning, a remembrance, and a release.
CATCH LEE MARTIN LIVE
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MARLENE - ALBUM RELEASE TOUR
17 July, The Piano - CHRISTCHURCH
31 July – GREYMOUTH
2 August – BARRYTOWN
14 August – POHARA
11 September - AUCKLAND
Tickets available from: leemartinmusician.com