Exoduster B+ Review


Martha Berner
Ten Tiny Little Pieces EP
Machine Records
Grade: B+




Following on the heels of Martha Berner's solid and well-received full-length …This Side of Yesterday comes the four-song EP Ten Tiny Little Pieces. Recorded in a single day in her hometown of Lake Geneva, WI (though Chicago is now home) the EP simply picks up on This Side and slams down another strong set of soulful singer-songwriter songs. The title track opens the EP with slow piano and Berner's vocals working the grind into a lather of songwriter prowess. This is followed by a cover of Lou Reed and John Cale's more countrified "Sunday Morning" and a lushly catchy chorus. Marginal slipness occurs on "Down and Out in San Francisco" before the solid "Wait For Me" closes out the EP. More and more this kind of music causes me great illness, so the fact that Berner can draw me into the sound is enough for me to believe she's something special.