UNC graduate student releases first solo album since UK fame

The average American may not know Brad San Martin or his former band, One Happy Island — but in England, they’re celebrities. 

“Nobody was coming to see us in America,” San Martin, an Information and Library Science graduate student, said. “But we sold out shows and festivals overseas.” 

In One Happy Island, which formed in 2007, San Martin played a variety of instruments, including the ukulele, keyboard and drums and also contributed both as a singer-songwriter. 

After the band's 2014 farewell tour in England, San Martin moved to North Carolina from Boston and began recording his own music on a tape recorder in his attic in his free time.

The music he recorded in his free time, which is a compilation of One Happy Island's unreleased songs written by San Martin, appear on "Tell Someone," his first solo album released on Oct. 2. 

In One Happy Island, the band members worked together to produce and write songs. On the new album, San Martin played every instrument, sang every song and recorded every note himself.

“(Being solo) you don’t have anybody to fall back on,” he said. “In One Happy Island, it was communal and fluid.”

Chris Mac, the owner of Seattle-based Jigsaw Records, which produced San Martin’s album and One Happy Island’s final albums, has been in the recording business for 20 years. He's been a fan of San Martin since he first heard the band several years ago at various Popfests. 

“Earlier this year, he asked if I wanted to put out his new album, and I of course said yes,” he said. “I loved all his previous work.”

Despite San Martin’s successes in England and at various small festivals across the United States, very few know of his work, especially in the Chapel Hill area.

Although San Martin’s new album is available at CD Alley, the staff could not pick out his music from any other local artist’s music. 

Sophomore Frances Cayton, a self-proclaimed avid local music listener, hadn’t heard of San Martin or One Happy Island until his songs were played for her. 

Still, she enjoyed the music she heard and said she would gladly listen to more.

“It’s very singer-songwriter-y in its feel,” she said. “It reminds me of other college music and bands that I’ve heard.”

Although Mac recognizes that there isn’t yet much of a following for San Martin in the U.S., he said San Martin’s latest album is still finding much success.

“The album's reception has been quite good,” Mac said. “Sales have been pretty steady since its release.”

San Martin, who moved to Chapel Hill in August, doesn’t have any musical connections here and doesn’t know if or when he will play in front of a live audience again. 

Still, he is hopeful for the future of his music.

“Starting that process (of finding musical networks) again is a little daunting,” he said. “But it’s time.”

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