In early 2014, Brooklynite Henry Crawford released the palpably moving ‘Wendy’ under the moniker Small Wonder. Taking inspiration from the tale of Peter Pan, the indie-pop effort balanced the intimacy of Youth Lagoon’s ‘The Year of Hibernation’ and the stateliness of Golden Suits’ self-titled debut while displaying Crawford’s own gentle power. On songs such as the alternately calm and explosive “Patron Saint of Pretty Faces” (streaming below), the songwriter sings of a lover’s lasting impact with a directness that makes his struggle towards peace that much more involving. That’s the triumph of Crawford: as with all engaging storytellers, you really see, and feel, the unraveling humanity. Small Wonder plays at The Knitting Factory on Monday june 15). – Zach Weg

My Friday night was spent primarily at The Silent Barn (pictured) for the Miscreant and Father/Daughter Records showcase. I'll add that I spent all of the next day there as well; having spent the most time there than any venue, Silent Barn had my favorite bills of CMJ by far, and none of them were official. Although I was particularly exhausted that day/night and ended up leaving earlier than I would've liked, I did catch some great acts that I had been meaning to see for a while. I will say that this was a stacked bill, I'm only going to talk about a few of the bands that really stand out to me. - Keep reading Jake Saunders report of Day 4 of the CMJ Music Marathon 2014.