Canadian treasures Martha & The Muffins @marthajohnson13 are back with their signature sound in previously unreleased “Do You Ever Wonder”

MARTHA & THE MUFFINS, “Do You Ever Wonder”

Take it from someone who was there when “Echo Beach” rose from proprietary new wave status to one of the 1980’s biggest international hits out of Canada, “Do You Ever Wonder”, a previously unreleased song by Toronto’s Martha & The Muffins, has their recognizable signature sound all over it, and it’s remarkably fresh for 2021!  The Muffins, long a duo of singer Martha Johnson and guitarist/producer Mark Gane, have a retrospective album of unreleased tracks and demos called Marthology: In And Outtakes due on November 5.  For me, “Do You Ever Wonder” is a return to some of the songs of 1983’s Danseparc album all over again, which was a hybrid of alternative rock and the emergence of rhythmic disco-flavoured dance music of the time. Martha’s vocal is relaxed and vibrant while Mark’s jangly guitar work creates the underlying hook of the song.  If radio had a different model today, I would say “Do You Ever Wonder” should be a cross-format hit, but instead I’ll leave it to nostalgia fans,  as well as college and alternative online and terrestrial radio stations, to keep giving this one continuous love.