Bernice MacDonald - Five Fingers of Rye - released Feb 2010

Tracking Listing 1. On My Own 2. Move On 3. Smile 4. Nasty Nasty 5. Big Bad World

Bernice MacDonald - Garden - released Nov 2008

Garden review by national music magazine Rock N Reel (4 stars)

Because most of the pop that fuelled me was born of adult opposition, it was with trepidation that I approached a self-composed disc in which the artist's parents are thanked on the back cover and, according to a brief glance at its booklet text, addressed in 'My Ability' and 'Rain', among items that precede a title track that begins as a paeon to Joni Mitchell ('When I heard "Woodstock", it shaped my life today').

Prejudging Bernice, it crossed my mind that I might be in for eight slices of girly preciousness, and lyrics that make you embarrassed to be alive. Yet I'm delighted to report that, while an expressive soprano is most comfortable on ballads, it can rock gently when need arises. Moreover, just as 'Nova Scotia' lulls you into a pleasant melancholia, a sudden abrasive couplet leaps from the grooves and brings about an immediate reappraisal.

This example merely scratches the surface of Garden - which is blessed too with assured and uncluttered accompaniment. At present, however, it's 'Violet', all a capella harmonies and oblique melody, that has been on the turntable every time I've been in the kitchen for more than five minutes. Alan Clayson