If you don’t dream big, why dream at all? It’s why M. Brinston Berry, a singer-songwriter from Ashland, Kentucky, has always looked to the unreachable greats for inspiration. From his earliest memories of 1980s radio to his current indie-folk favorites, Berry has strived towards the masters to inform his thinking and to push him to push himself.

A five-year-old Berry had his first musical memory when he heard the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams” while riding in his uncle’s car. “It was the first time music really moved me,” Berry recalled. Too young yet to act on this inspiration, Berry would be a few years older when at age nine he asked for a guitar for Christmas, though it would be a bit longer before he learned to play it. It was around the time of becoming a teenager that Berry would have his aspirations give way to obsession. He locked himself away in his room, not emerging until he was able to play rudimentary covers of favorites like Neil Young and Tom Petty.

It wasn’t very long into his guitar playing that Berry began attempting to emulate his heroes by writing original material. “It was mostly embarrassing love songs,” Berry recalls with a laugh. Any false starts aside, Berry soon was tackling more challenging material. “I remember an early attempt at writing about the ills of society,” he said. A young teenager may not have the world experience required to fully articulate and mine those ills to realistic effect, but what he yet lacked in execution Berry made up for in self-actualization. Berry realized he was digging in the right vein and continued following North Star’s like Bob Dylan to keep him on the storytelling track.

Berry learned his youthful lessons well and continued honing his craft through writing and performing both as part of other acts as well as solo. By the time of his first release, 2017’s “MMXVII,” Berry arrived fully-formed. His latest release, 2023’s “Everything that We’ve Become” is both a continuation and an evolution. Now with six EPs of original material, Berry has established himself as a unique voice and distinct songwriter capable of channeling disparate influences into cohesive and concise pieces of art….complete worlds encapsulated into mere minutes.

Berry’s discography is now broad enough to contain the multitude of his learnings. From alt-leaning influences, such as The Cure and The Smashing Pumpkins, to songwriting legends like Dylan and Young, Berry has assembled the sum of his parts into his work. Even the synth-pop echoes of the Eurythmics can be found in releases like 2022 EP “Summitatem.” Nine year old Berry would have approved.

After several EPs of fruitful experimentation, Berry has stripped things back with “Everything that We’ve Become,” making the new EP more in line with some of his earlier work. It also captures the sound Berry has mastered in live performance, and incorporates Berry’s biggest influence in adulthood, Sam Beam of Iron & Wine. “His storytelling is truly amazing,” Berry said of Beam. “His background is film production so his lyrics are more about the atmospheric mood of the song than the first person narrative that most writers, myself included, rely on.”

Narrative writing, atmospherics, acoustic rawness, lush production, engaging live performance…Berry has demonstrated an ability to attempt, and succeed at it all. “Everything that We’ve Become” is who Berry is now but, as with all his work, manages to incorporate the various versions of himself. It’s perfect listening until the next evolution of Berry comes along.

Kevin Compton