Album Details

• Artist: Martin Sexton
• EP:
Fall Like Rain
• Label: Kitchen Table
• Year of Release: 2012
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2012-02-13

More topical than usual, Martin Sexton's latest features songs of hope, worry and calls for awareness and unity. Yet the five tracks that make up "Fall Like Rain" are not preachy or cloying; they are in fact intimate and compassionate, and seem only more so when delivered with Sexton's soaring, soulful voice.

A lot has been made of his cover of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth," and it isn't bad, revised  as a jaunty mix of ragtime melody, acapella, and pop. The real gem is the often staggering "Burlington," a deliberately paced, reflective, poetic anthem on loss and recovery, and one of his best ever songs. Of the others, also notable are the title track has a mini-epic driving song feel, and "One Voice Together" is a winning mix of light soul and pop.  

"Fall Like Rain" stands alone as a record of short, poetic songs that show the personal in the political, and vice versa. As a reminder that we are all in this together, Martin Sexton's latest is a welcome gift. It may still be  a stopgap until a full-length, however, as only a couple songs leap into his best-of set.

User Reviews and Comments