Tiny Sun creates tiny songs that give off light and heat well out of proportion to their size. Composed, performed, and produced by Martina Sorbara, Jonathan Goldsmith, and Don Rooke, the record is vaguely Americana, with plucked guitars and ukuleles, chiming keyboards, and the lonesome slide of the guitar. Vanishment contains eighteen sparkling miniatures - that take a scant 34 minutes to negotiate - notable for their economy of arrangement and the subtle directness of the lyrics. The tracks glow with Martina’s clear, high, and sometimes fragile voice.

The songs are about loss: lost love, lost confidence, but sometimes about resignation to the enigmatic quirks of the world. The tone of wry fatalism mirrors the fact that this project is the work of many years of collaboration and email exchanges while the trio pursued their musical day jobs. Jonathan Goldsmith is an award-winning composer for television and film, Don Rooke fronts the Toronto roots band The Henrys, and Martina Sorbara is known for folk, electropop, and her band Dragonette.

The range of backgrounds leads to many styles, and the record betrays interesting influences. The opening track, “Kerosene Madrigal,” is a sort of miner’s blues reminiscent of Michelle Shocked. The soul-country of “Imagined Love” reminded me of fellow Torontonians Cowboy Junkies, especially the sweet organ. The stoic and twangy “Don’t Fault the Stars for Falling” could have been a Dolly Parton tune.

“A Grand Expanse” has a more ambitious arrangement. It sounds like the end-credits song from a long-ago film we only vaguely remember. It says everything it needs to in one minute and twenty seconds and exactly 38 words. It is quintessential Tiny Sun.

The entire recording feels like music from a dream, and since no one knows exactly what dream music sounds like, this could be it.

Tiny Sun will perform the entire album at Toronto’s Koerner Hall on May 14, 2026.

Where do you find the recordings?

Find the artists
Martina Sorbara (Dragonette)
Don Rooke
Jonathan Goldsmith

Further reading
The Henrys - Shrug (Review)
Cris Derksen - The Visit (Review)

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