Biography

M. Craft is the performance nickname of Martin Craft, a singer, songwriter/composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer who split his formative years between Australia and the U.K. Two years after returning to his birth city of Canberra, Australia at age 12, he started the indie rock band Sidewinder, playing bass with his brother Nick Craft (lead vocals and guitar), Pip Branson (guitar), and Giri Fox (drums). Sidewinder would go on to release three EPs and two full-length albums -- 1995's Atlantis and 1997's Tangerine -- all with Half a Cow Records. The group disbanded in 2000. In the meantime, Craft began formal study of piano and composition at the Canberra School of Music (later known as the Australian National University School of Music). He relocated to London, England to pursue a solo career and released the EP I Can See It All Tonight in 2004 as M. Craft. A full-length album exhibiting hints of Elliott Smith and Tropicália titled Silver & Fire followed in 2006, and the LP Arrows at the Sun arrived in 2008. Around this time, he also became a steady member of Jarvis Cocker's touring band. Craft relocated to California in 2013 and went to work on a third solo album in Los Angeles, eventually retreating to a desert cabin in Joshua Tree. Featuring atmospheric orchestral song sculpted from longer piano compositions, and with a title inspired by witnessing two of the lunar events during his stay, Blood Moon was released by Heavenly in 2016. A reworked instrumental version of the album, Blood Moon Deconstructed, followed in 2017, with contributors including harpist Mary Lattimore and percussionist Danny Frankel. ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi