Billie Marten Brings Her ‘Dog Eared’ Lullabies To LA
los angeles, california - september 11, 2025
Photo via Billie Marten.
In a field where springy cottontail rabbits and rolling blades of grass coincide, you’ll find the enchanting essence of singer-songwriter, Billie Marten. The lyrical fairy made an appearance at the El Rey in Los Angeles last Thursday to deliver an ethereal performance of her fifth album as part of her DOG EARED Tour. In Billie fashion, she came up with a scavenger hunt for her fans to join the journey along the way. Known for sharing her current reads on social media, the singer decided to pop into a bookstore at each stop of the tour and hide a ticket to the show that evening for one lucky fan.
With a dark chocolate acoustic slung across her chest, Marten kicked off the night by playing the jangly, bright chords for “Feeling” off her latest album, Dog Eared. Her relaxed demeanor and velvety vocals set the tone for the rest of the evening–one of sweet respite.
An impressively rich catalogue lies under Marten’s belt, and she made sure not to push her older songs to the back burner when it came to drafting the show’s setlist. Soft lullabies wrapped in lush string progressions like “Just Us” and “This Is How We Move” from Drop Cherries snuck in right after, sparking excited murmurs and cheers.
“Do we feel like bonding as a group?” Marten asked the audience, who had earlier established a readiness to participate with shouts of gratitude. “Well, I’d like you to sway, please,” she kindly requested for “Mice.” Swirling harmonies floated up into the balcony seats of the venue as she crooned, “And the stars, they look like little mice / To me, I am my only vice” over the hypnotic sight of a sea of humans swinging back and forth.
It isn’t a Billie Marten show without showering the audience with moments of cheeky British humor. “Can I get a Yorkshire shout? Can everyone say Yorkshire?” she giggled before diving back into Dog Eared favorites like “Crown” and “Clover” on a frosty blue electric guitar. At one point, she even mentioned that her midwife had a monobrow. “Does that mean anything in America?” she asked, until she eventually had to clarify that it was a “unibrow” after being met with a plethora of puzzled faces.
Photo via Billie Marten.
Accompanied by Katie Martucci on the bass and Andrew Maguire on drums, the sparkling instrument arrangements became a clear testament to the band’s seamless chemistry– an ebb and flow that was undeniably the driving force of the album, and thus, the live performance. For tracks like “Glass,” Maguire combed through what looked like hanging sea glass beside his drum kit, creating twinkly soundscapes that elevated the ambiance by tenfold.
Older tracks like “Toulouse” and “Vanilla Baby” echoed off the high ceilings of the venue, sonically lustrous like melted caramel through the amps as Marten hummed its sticky lyrics: “Nights are fine when I remember they pay me / We can talk but I’m not your baby.”
Such expertise in her craft posed no issue in the face of an impromptu technical difficulty. The introduction to “No Sudden Changes” was cut short after one of Marten’s guitar strings snapped. While she wrapped it back on herself, Maguire treated the room to a five-minute drum solo serenade. “Thank you for being so present,” she expressed to the audience at one point. “Let me tell you about San Diego,” she joked before bringing her opener, Yeemz, on stage for an entrancing rendition of “Planets” with the addition of Yeemz’s cello. The four-piece band on stage for this was a highlight of the night, with each person’s instrument intertwining together with skillful fluidity, complementing the whimsical nature of the song.
“My ego’s gonna need to go straight into a caged box after this,” Marten shared with glowing gratitude as the night arrived at its final two songs. “I Can’t Get My Head Around You” and “Swing” made for the perfect finale, washing the audience in warm acoustic chords and backing vocals from the crowd for the “oohs” in the choruses.
Marten bottled up the feeling of sitting by a windowsill in November London air for LA’s September show with an incredibly evocative performance through her live storytelling. It’s always a good time to listen to her discography, but it's all the more enticing for the upcoming fall and winter seasons.
Be sure to catch Billie Marten and her band on the DOG EARED Tour, which will run through North America and the UK/EU until December.
