By Lisa DiCarlucci

In an industry that is chock full of female singer-songwriters, it takes a special something to stand out. For MaryAnne Marino, it’s the essence of jazz in her voice, combined with an almost folk and melodic tone of her songs on her new EP, “A Little Something.”

While the tracks themselves are not knock-outs, there is certainly something that makes you listen twice.

“A Little Something” is not exactly exciting. Murino’s voice, at very first listen, seems unusual, but as she sinks into the passion her songs it moves from deep and nasal to smooth and sultry. The tracks themselves kind of blend together and while they possess a dreamy and airy quality to them, they lack the wow factor.

The songs are nice and good, but not spectacular. Murino’s smoky voice evokes the feelings of blues and you would expect her words to be darker and sad however, for the most part the songs are quite pleasant. At moments, this is a nice contrast, but at others it seems misplaced.

Particularly on the track, “Let’s Get Married”, when Marino sings, “Let’s get married, let’s have babies” it feels odd. The lyrics are awkward and don’t flow well. The quality of her voice seems strange for the folksy, happy tone of the song.

Aside from that track, Murino’s songs flow well with tracks such as “Forever is Mine” and “Start Again.” They are similar and calming and have similar attributes to other songs of female artists of her genre. Though without her well-trained, unique voice, Murino’s EP would not be notable.

Upon listening to Murino’s previous album, there is a slightly richer quality which is lacking in “A Little Something,” and would probably be beneficial to the EP as a whole.

Overall, “A Little Something” is lacking a little something. Marino is clearly talented and her voice transcends her songs but the EP is awkward in the sense that it has the qualities of winter, debuting in the summer. It’s good, not great, but worth a listen if melodic jazzy singer songwriters are your taste.