Charlotte Martin released her newest studio EP this week titled "Orphans." It's a collection of songs that she has written but have never found a home on any albums or EPs, hence the name "orphans."

I am quite pleased with the album. It's a nice collection of songs, most of which i have heard before. There was actually only one song that I had never heard before, becuase most songs she has played live before or have been released in some other format.

Is this Called Desire? It has a very slow, contemplative melody to it. It really just makes you sit and think. The lyrics are incredible... and the melody is very strong. One of my favorites on the EP.

Galaxies This song is Charlotte's signature sound, with the piano driving the song along with a drum loop. The lyrics are very strong as well, she is really growing as a lyricist.

Habit (LP Version) I don't know why this is called the LP version, because it's on an EP. But, whatever. It's the exact same version that was on the iTunes Stromata album, but with background vocals added to it. But the background vocals are amazing, and they make the song so much better!

Outerspace This was the only song that I had never heard before. It's different for Charlotte. There's absolutely no piano in it, and i'm not too fond of that, but she's experimenting, and that's fine. Little Universe didn't have any piano in it either and that's one of my favorite songs by her, so maybe this one will grow on me. Her voice sounds a lot like the girl from the Sundays on this one.

Snowflakes Okay, I don't know why she titled it "Snowflakes" when it's always been known as "Snowflake" and she doesn't pluralize it in the song. I don't know whether that's a typo that just never got caught or whatever. But anyway, this has been a fan favorite for a long time and it's nice to finally have a studio version of it. The piano lick actually sounds like snowflakes falling.

The Stalker Song Another changing of song titles, this song has always been known as "I'm Normal, Please Date Me," but she has also referred to it as "The Stalker Song" so I can understand that. I am very happy that there's finally a studio version of this, because it's one of my favorite Charlotte songs. However, I don't understand why she edited herself in it, saying "full of it" instead of "full of shit." Maybe it's because she just had a baby and doesn't want the baby to hear any bad language, but it kind of takes away from the emotion of the song.

Raven (Lost Master) This sounds like an older version of Raven. It's very different, using both acoustic and electric guitar and drums. It has more of a band feel, which i kind of nice. Not my favorite version of Raven, but a nice take on it.

Many Rivers (2005) OMG. This is my favorite song on the EP. This is a song that was on Test-Drive songs in 2002, but this is an updated version, and it's amazing. She does a lot of vocal layering during the bridge and the vocal climax is orgasmic!

Overall, it's a solid effort, but not my favorite by her. I was expecting more unreleased songs like In My Desert, There's a Spring Sometimes and Weird Goodbye. It's strange that she chose different version of Raven and Many Rivers, because those songs do have homes on other albums, so technically they are not "orphans." And out of all of Charlottes albums and EPs, it's probably the least cohesive one. The songs are nice, but it doesn't really hold together as a body of work. But perhaps she didn't intend for that to be, since it really is just a collection of songs that have never made it on an album.

But it's great that she's recording and putting out music again, and I can't wait for her new album!

Charlotte Martin
Orphans