Have you written a review of a Martin Kerr song, album or performance?  Or have you found one in a publication or blog that isn't shown here?  Please add it using the guestbook below. Martin Kerr I Know You're Out There Independent If Jack Johnson was one day bitten by a radioactive Cat Stevens, the result would be a super-human being named Martin Kerr. Transplanted to Edmonton by marriage, this British singer-songwriter's music immediately evokes flashbacks to the days of peace, love, and protest songs, but in an idyllic kind of way. Kerr's soothing voice lightly dancing over every note, I Know You're Out There draws in listeners with its hopeful, remarkable lyrics and beautifully written instrumentals. A few tracks after the reflective lullaby "Chicken's Feet" comes "My Love's Been More than Two Hours Long," a deliciously upbeat song that might make a Gaelic-music lover out of anyone within earshot. As the tracks fly by, I Know You're Out There keeps on getting better and better. midway through the album is "You Two Can," by far the best and catchiest song of the bunch—it's also the most hippie-esque, with lyrics like "If we're not famous / Think that no one will blame us / Letting injustice go on as it does / But the starving don't care / About the price of your haircut / Any true kindness will do." Even those who don't buy into the socialist mindset will find themselves singing along to the chorus of "Bono can't change the world / Anymore than you two can." The end of the album, like the end of the anti-war movement, is bitter-sweet: the closing track, "In Hindsight," is yet another gem, but as the album comes to a close, so does the beautiful world that Kerr has created—until the play button is quickly hit again, of course. -Bryan Saunders, Arts & Entertainment Staff, The Gateway (University of Alberta Newspaper)

Martin Kerr justanotherman Independent 'justanotherman' is the everyman album. Its author, Martin Kerr shoots high, aiming at such universal themes as love, loss and the human condition. For a debut album, and from one so young, the potential for disaster in such an endeavour is palpable. Think seventeen-year-old Avril Lavigne telling us "Life's like this..." And a disaster it would be if it didn't ring with such truth and poignancy; if it weren't peppered with such disarming juxtapositions as, "It's not enough to have temporary joy, I'll be your rocket boy.."; if Kerr himself were not the talent he has proven himself here to be. Imagine a Leonard Cohen of post-grunge Brit-pop - Cohen, but with faith. True to his Baha'i roots, from the quotations in the liner notes to the single Hidden Word, 'O My friend in word!" Kerr manages to remain accessible to any audience. We wait for the cringe-inducing clichés, but they never come. Even the Hidden Word, a favourite subject of the Baha'i songwriter, is fresh in its lack of the simplistic sing-along quality of so many of its predecessors. For the most part, Kerr's religious convictions simply underscore and add colour to otherwise inclusive motifs. He pulls this off by avoiding the pitfall of writing overtly about his faith. While fellow Baha'is will recognise his references in such lines as, "We pray the light of unity envelops the whole earth," others will identify with the tales of his individual plight with which he so seamlessly weaves them. The music itself shares a similar quality of being clever but not unfittingly brainy. It is innovative enough that it does not get old quickly, or sound like every radio hit, yet not so much so that you don't feel like singing along. In fact, listeners should be warned that they may find themselves singing any number of the songs on this album long after it has stopped playing. The lyrics are insightful, honest and bravely personal. The songs are unified, stylistically and thematically. The melodies are at once inventive and catchy. The worst thing I can say about this album is that it may leave you not wanting to listen to anything else. That said, 'justanotherman' belongs in just about every collection. Tara Rout - Producer, Cause and Effect Film Festival