Dragonette frontwoman Martina Sorbara has teamed up with The Henrys’ Don Rooke and film composer Jonathan Goldsmith to release Tiny Sun, a collaborative album arriving April 24. The trio has also shared the lead single, A Grand Expanse, ahead of a one-night performance in Toronto next month.
The project developed over several years through a remote exchange of ideas between Sorbara and Rooke, who worked as long-distance collaborators before bringing Goldsmith into the fold. The material took shape as a series of short compositions, most under two minutes, built from fragments passed back and forth rather than traditional studio sessions. None of the three recorded together in the same room during the process.
A Grand Expanse draws from Sorbara’s experiences with hypnagogic imagery, the visual state between wakefulness and sleep. She has pointed to the 1951 animated film Alice in Wonderland as a reference point for the song’s tone and delivery, with the arrangement leaning toward a cinematic structure shaped by Goldsmith’s background in film scoring.
Listen below:
The album includes 18 tracks, among them Nobody Won’t, Hieroglyphics, and Don’t Fault the Stars For Falling. Early material emerged when Sorbara revisited a short instrumental sketch from Rooke and built lyrics around it, setting the framework for how the trio would continue working.
Sorbara, Rooke, and Goldsmith will present the project live for the first time on May 14 at Koerner Hall. The performance will feature students from the Royal Conservatory Orchestra and will be structured in two parts. The first half focuses on Tiny Sun in full, followed by a second set led by Dragonette, reworking Sorbara’s catalogue with orchestral backing.
The concert marks Sorbara’s return to a more classically influenced setting, a contrast to her work as Dragonette, where she built a reputation through collaborations with electronic producers including Martin Solveig and Galantis. Tickets for the Koerner Hall performance are on sale now.
Tiny Sun Album Tracklist
- 1. Kerosene Madrigal
- 2. Nobody Won’t
- 3. Fledgling Land
- 4. Great Lakes
- 5. A Grand Expanse
- 6. O Fathoms
- 7. Hieroglyphics
- 8. Vanishment
- 9. Berceuse
- 10. Imagined Love
- 11. Float On the Sea
- 12. Split the Sky
- 13. Goodbye
- 14. Every Kind of Cloud
- 15. Talk in Tongues
- 16. Silly Way the World Got Spun
- 17. Far Away
- 18. Don’t Fault the Stars For Falling
Photo – Greg Pacek
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