In Advance of the Broken Arm (album)

In Advance of the Broken Arm
Studio album by Marnie Stern
Released	February 20, 2007
Genre	Math rock indie rock punk rock avant-pop
Label	Kill Rock Stars
Producer	Zach Hill
Marnie Stern chronology
In Advance of the Broken Arm (2007) This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That (2008)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	79/100 [1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Pitchfork	7.7/10 [3]
PopMatters	7/10 [4]
Stylus Magazine	A− [5]

In Advance of the Broken Arm is the debut album by Marnie Stern, released in 2007. Kill Rock Stars handled the CD release, and the vinyl with a shorter track listing came out on Rampage Records. The title comes from a work of art of the same title by artist Marcel Duchamp.

Composition

Musically, Arm is math rock and "fully-formed, feminine" indie rock, ^{[5] [6]} as well as a "noisy" fusion of punk rock and avant-pop. ^[7]

Legacy

Arm has garnered admiration in the years since its release. As part of an essay series for Drowned in Sound 's 10th anniversary, contributing writer Alexander Tudor wrote glowingly of the album in 2010. He called it "sad & brave & emotionally generous" due to Stern "weav[ing]... her narrative of personal struggle against the odds, and her own mantras of self-affirmation" into it. ^[8] In 2017, MTV News' Hazel Cills celebrated Arm's 10th anniversary. She praised the musicianship of Stern and drummer Zach Hill as "sound[ing] like nothing else in American indie rock" at the time. ^[7] About.com placed Arm on their list of the math rock genre's best records. ^[6]

Track listing

CD

1. "Vibrational Match" - 3:37
2. "Grapefruit" - 2:47
3. "Every Single Line Means Something" - 3:40
4. "Precious Metal" - 3:10
5. "Put All Your Eggs in One Basket and Then Watch That Basket!!!" - 2:41
6. "Logical Volume" - 3:40
7. "Absorb Those Numbers" - 3:21
8. "This American Life" - 4:05
9. "Letters from Rimbaud" - 3:39
10. "The Weight of a Rock" - 2:30
11. "Plato's Fucked Up Cave" - 3:30
12. "Healer" - 3:29
13. "Patterns of a Diamond Ceiling" - 4:24

LP

Side A

1. "Vibrational Match" - 3:37
2. "Grapefruit" - 2:47
3. "Every Single Line Means Something" - 3:40
4. "Precious Metal" - 3:10
5. "Put All Your Eggs in One Basket and Then Watch That Basket!!!" - 2:41

Side B

1. "Absorb Those Numbers" - 3:21
2. "This American Life" - 4:05
3. "Healer" - 3:29
4. "Patterns of a Diamond Ceiling" - 4:24

Personnel

Performers

• Marnie Stern: vocals, guitar, keyboards
• John-Reed Thompson: bass, keyboards, organ
• Zach Hill: drums, bass, keyboards, piano

Other

• Songs written by Marnie Stern, except for "Vibrational Match", which was written by Marnie Stern and Bella Foster
• Arrangements by Marnie Stern and Zach Hill
• Engineering and mixing by John-Reed Thompson at Retrofit Recording, Sacramento, California, with additional engineering by Marnie Stern
• Produced by Zach Hill
• Mastered by John Golden
• Artwork by Bella Foster

References

1. "In Advance Of The Broken Arm by Marnie Stern". Metacritic . Retrieved March 14, 2018.
2. Jurek, Thom. "In Advance of the Broken Arm". AllMusic . Retrieved March 14, 2018.
3. Stosuy, Brandon (February 23, 2007). "Marnie Stern: In Advance of the Broken Arm Album Review". Pitchfork . Retrieved March 14, 2018.
4. Cibula, Matt (February 19, 2007). "Marnie Stern: In Advance of the Broken Arm". PopMatters . Retrieved March 14, 2018.
5. Powell, Mike (February 21, 2007). "Marnie Stern - In Advance of the Broken Arm - Review". Stylus Magazine . Archived from the original on February 23, 2007. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
6. Carew, Anthony (August 22, 2019). "Top 10 Math-Rock Albums - Best Ever Math-Rock Albums". About.com . Retrieved July 25, 2025.
7. Cills, Hazel (February 21, 2017). "How Marnie Stern Found the Sound of the Future". MTV News . Archived from the original on February 8, 2022. Retrieved July 25, 2025.
8. Tudor, Alexander (August 31, 2010). "Favourite 50: Marnie Stern In Advance of the Broken Arm (chosen by Alexander Tudor) / In Depth // Drowned In Sound". Drowned in Sound . Archived from the original on June 18, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2025.