Listen: Tiny Ruins - "The Crab/Waterbaby"

 

One of the greatest strengths of New Zealand singer/songwriter Hollie Fullbrook is her ability to take tiny moments and elevate them into winsome narratives. Such is case of "The Crab/Waterbaby", the latest single from her project Tiny Ruins and her first single since 2019's Olympic Girls (and its acoustic companion Olympic Girls Solo). Fullbrook is able to weave an entrancing tale of finding a molting crab on the beach with such deft hand. It's delicately traversed - featuring Fullbrook's voice and guitar for much of its first verse, before the rest of Fullbrook's band glide in to accompany her. Simultaneously sparse with moments of rich textural strokes, "The Crab/Waterbaby" benefits not only from Fullbrook's succinct lyricism but by the band's ability to maneuver around her in a way that accents Fullbrook's vocals while providing these bursts of narrative embellishments. Fullbrook is given room to spin her yarn, gently unfurling her story while also being carried by the fortifying rush of the instrumentation. It's simple but effective - economical in its musical language without sacrificing any nuance and the results is something absolutely magical. 

Listen to "The Crab/Waterbaby" by Tiny Ruins out now:

Listen: Tiny Ruins - "School of Design"

photo by Si Moore

On the first two singles "How Much" and "Olympic Girls" from Tiny Ruins' forthcoming record Olympic Girls, New Zealand singer/songwriter Hollie Fullbrook's narratives have seamless interwoven storytelling with a touch of the personal. A universal vagueness with just the right amount of intimate detail that might've lead listeners to ponder how much Fullbrook was pulling from fragments of her own lived experiences and echoing past conversations. "School of Design", the latest single from the album, takes a step back in a sense in the spirit of tracks like "Priest With Balloons" or "Jamie Blue" that favor pure storytelling but filters the experience through Fullbrook to imbue it with sincerity.  It's meticulous descriptive, the plaintive guitar adding to the mystery of immaculate but seemingly abandoned building Fullbrook explores both literally and figuratively in the song. While Fullbrook's descriptions are enough to immediately  the building in your mind's eye, it's the line: "And I was struck by a feeling, it's hard to describe" where the song truly blossoms. Fullbrook doesn't explain it, can't seem to even; and frankly she doesn't need to. "The urge to burst through the ceiling starts, raise glass to the sky" Fullbrook continues and it's such a poignant moment, descriptive in a purely external way that transmutes the cerebral to the visceral and renders the inexplicable into a shared experience.



Olympic Girls, the third full length album from Tiny Ruins is out February 1st on Ba Da Bing in the US, Marathon Artists in the UK/EU, Milk! in Australia, and Ursa Minor in New Zealand. You can pre-order the album now. 

Listen: Tiny Ruins - "Olympic Girls"

New Zealand singer/songwriter Hollie Fullbrook has never particularly been at a loss for words, able to stitch together incredibly evocation but succinct tales that seem exceptionally intimate and personal even while weaving dreamy narratives about priests flying high in the sky or carving out an elaborate backstory for a man Fullbrook saw in a painting. But "Olympics Girls", the title track and second single from her upcoming third full length album from Fullbrook's project Tiny Ruins, finds Fullbrook particular verbose in a way heretofore unexperienced.

"Olympics Girls" is a rarity in Fullbrook's oeuvre - a song that traces a delicately unfolding ramble in a way that seems particularly gregarious. Fullbrook has always adopted a conversational demeanor and her songs employ subtly evocative turns of phrase but on "Olympic Girls", particularly in the delivery of the line "You'll never find a thing if you can't lose yourself every once in awhile" Fullbrook takes on a Dylan-esque breathiness and windiness. Fullbrook makes a break from her normal narrative presentation to instead string together a series of incredibly descriptive thoughts - not completely separate from each other but not linked by an easily sought out structure. Instead, much like "How Much", Fullbrook appears to be continuing a conversation while providing ample details for listeners to catch up and the most stunning thing about "Olympic Girls" is how Fullbrook is able to imbue these particular lines with emotional resonance while abandoning familiar songwriting tropes.

One of the song's most winsome moments and an impressive thing considering it's the verse that gives the track it's name is how Fullbrook quickly dispatches: "You only had your Olympic girls, the frosted sheen of leotard twirls, running revolt and winning gold for the the TV screen before being led back to the cells". It's an exceptional bit of songwriting as it reveals quite a bit about both of the song's subjects but Fullbrook doesn't dwell - recognizes it's lyrical power enough to name the track after it but otherwise swiftly moves on. Fullbrook's never been one to lean too heavily on her multitudinous moments of lyrical prowess and it shows here as Fullbrook allows a newfound sense of wordiness to lead her to and from these breathtaking moments. Her language is still plain and unornamented as she allows not the particular words but the particular way she uses the word to stir up a feeling or color a scene in a splash of emotion. It's not completely unheard of but the way that Fullbrook continues to do such things is a marvel and she's able to do it in a way that feels as fresh as if she were doing it for the first time.



Olympic Girls, the third full length album from Tiny Ruins is out February 9th on Ba Da Bing in the US, Milk! in Australia, Marathon Artists in the EU/UK, and Ursa Minor in New Zealand. Pre-order is available now.

Listen/Watch: Tiny Ruins - "How Much"

Since the release of her sophomore full length album Brightly Painted One in 2014, New Zealand singer/songwriter Hollie Fullbrook aka Tiny Ruins has kept surprisingly busy. Working with her longtime friend,  Hamish Kilgour of The Clean on the collaborative Hurtling Through EP  as well as the David Lynch produced "Dream Wave", Fullbrook certainly seemed to make the most of her time post record to explore less expected musical ambitions that even when I saw opening for Marlon Williams solo on his most recent US tour, I wasn't entirely sure what her third album would sound like. Would it feature more of the stately arrangements of Brightly Painted One? The bare bones production and experimentation of Hurtling Through? The electronic tinged "Dream Wave"? Though the set featured just Fullbrook and her guitar I couldn't be sure since much like Brightly Painted One, Fullbrook offered that its follow up would be a similar full band affair.

"How Much", the first single from the upcoming record arrives to at least partially answer that question. Featuring her live band on electric and bass guitars and drums, alongside Fullbrook's acoustic guitar and cello, it's a layered dip into rock but one that doesn't trade out Fullbrook's proclivity for plainspoken poetic moments for instrumental ones.

From a songwriting perspective - it's Fullbrook's take on a less sequential form of tale-spinning as she seeks instead to conjure up specific emotions and feelings than weave an embellished narrative even as she does engage in some particular vivid scene painting while simultaneously shuffling details around and obscuring others from view. "How Much" is part love song, part rallying cry. It's an unilateral embrace of the less favorable aspects of life in search of one that's truly full. "How much would you be willing to give?" Fullbrook sings in the chorus and it's surprisingly without an ounce of melancholy instead it's more resolute than you'd expect such a lyric to be delivered. The preceding verse is full of little assurance and Fullbrook essentially continues that throughline in the chorus offering more support. It's an acknowledgement of the "no risk, no reward" mantra but one that offers support by providing the tools for someone else to reach such a realization to help themselves. And yet, there's layers. Fullbrook lyrics offers support but not from a place of a holier than thou immaculate. Rather, Fullbrook provides a peak into a flawed person dealing with their own problems but from a place of reticence that comes from experience.



Though the exact details are under wraps for now, Fullbrook has announced that her forthcoming third full length record will be out on Milk! Records for its Australia release, Marathon Artists for UK/Europe, and Ba Da Bing for North America.

Listen/Watch: Aldous Harding - "Imagining My Man"

I was introduced to New Zealand singer/songwriter Aldous Harding through her touring with several musicians I already knew and loved like Andy Shauf and Tiny Ruins. I was immediately taken by Harding's bewitching vocals and her incredible anachronistic brand of folk. Her songs were simultaneously sparse but featured intricately paced narratives and just the right infusion of strings and harmonies. Though I was incredibly late to her debut (I listened to the Flying Nun re-release of her self-titled record in December), I've eagerly awaited the news of her upcoming album.

"Imagining A Man" is the second single from her forthcoming sophomore record and 4AD debut Party and it finds Harding moving in a decidedly more conventional direction. Where first single "Horizon" was both reminiscent of her debut while pushing her sound forward and her lyricism, "Imagining My Man" manages both to push Harding's sound forward and her lyricism inward. Where her tales on her self-titled seemingly belonged to bygone eras, "Imagining My Man" seems not only could it happen in the here and now but that it can effect you. Where Harding sang of love and fear in the form of hunters, beasts of prey, and hauntings, Harding presents a her love song both far more intimately and vaguely but in that vagueness Harding draws a compelling amount of drama. Harding has established herself as a gifted storyteller armed not only with an impressive, evocative vocabulary but enchanting sense of pacing and "Imagining My Man" is no different. The difference lies in Harding trying on a sort of different skin; that of a pop singer and it fits surprisingly well. Though those wondering if a lean toward pop might erase what made her so unique need only look to "Horizon" her previous single off Party to get the sense that Harding beguiling sense of mystifying eeriness is alive and well and making it's way out of Harding in increasingly unexpected ways. "Horizon" and "Imagining My Man" couldn't be more different and that makes my anticipation for Party all the most palpable. 



Aldous Harding's second full length album Party is out May 19th on 4AD/Flying Nun. You can pre-order it here.

Listen: Tiny Ruins - "Carriages"

                                         (photo by Georgie Craw)

With the release of her sophomore record rapidly approaching, New Zealand singer/songwriter Hollie Fullbrook aka Tiny Ruins wants to make sure you know exactly what you're in for. The latest single "Carriages" is the third offering from Brightly Painted One and certainly the heaviest. "Me at the Museum, You at the Wintergardens" was a work of effusive brevity, "The Ballad of the Hanging Parcel" an expansive yarn, and "Carriages" takes a page from the latter; a sumptuous sprawl adorned with luminescent harmonies.

"Carriages" is a casual plod, showing the full breadth of Fullbrook's narrative prowess organically growing while also taking great care to provide an elastic accompaniment that still manages to drive the tune forward. It's an emotive piece of talented songcraft delicately fashioned and the effort clearly shows.



Tiny Ruins' sophomore full length album Brightly Painted One is out May 2nd on Spunk Records in Austrailia, May 5th in the UK/EU on Bella Union, and May 13th on Flying Nun Records in the US.

Listen: Tiny Ruins - "The Ballad of the Hanging Parcel"

A little more than a month ago, New Zealand singer/songwriter Hollie Fullbrook aka Tiny Ruins announced the details of her forthcoming record Brightly Painted One and offered up the effusive "Me at the Museum, You at the Wintergardens". It was perfect introduction to the subtly arresting folk that.

While "Me at the Museum, You at the Wintergardens" fluttered with coquettish effervescence, "The Ballad of the Hanging Parcel" takes a different route - not quite melancholic but far more introspective. After about a minute of unhurried rumination, the track picks up with the introduction of drums. It's a steady build filled with drive-by harmonies at unexpected intervals that helps to make the track particularly dynamic illustration of the track's theme of uncertainty. Nearly double the size of our first taste of Brightly Painted One, Fullbrook expands her narrative world building on "The Ballad of the Hanging Parcel" while not slacking one bit on the emotional resonance.

Listen to Brightly Painted One's second single "The Ballad of the Hanging Parcel":


Tiny Ruins' sophomore full length is out May 13th on Flying Nun Records.

Listen: Tiny Ruins - "Me At The Museum, You In The Wintergardens"

I say completely without any intention of hyperbole that New Zealand singer/songwriter Hollie Fullbrook aka Tiny Ruins was without a doubt my most favorite part of 2013's CMJ. Her's was the kind of music that needed no frills, no attention grabbing presentations; just simple understated beauty. Her gorgeous vocals framed by quaint, rustic guitar rambles delivered with deft delicacy. It inspired me not only to pick up each and every release Fullbrook had on her person but eagerly await the release of her forthcoming record.

After a couple months of relative radio silence, Tiny Ruins' Brightly Painted One not only has release details but a teaser of what to expect in the form of "Me At The Museum, You In The Wintergardens". In it, Fullbrook imbues her simple love song with a stately grace. There's little dressing up from the live version - a bit of harmony here and there, a drum entrance at perhaps the song's most climactic lyric: "Nobody feels old at the museum". There's the subtle touch of upright bass from collaborator Cass Basil and slight ornaments that recall the sun breaking through cloud cover; of sun dappled floors beneath a forest canopy. It's all delightful spring-like, effortless gorgeous and crisply articulate. All in all it's a great first peak at Tiny Ruins upcoming sophomore record and a wonderful introduction to those abroad who haven't had the chance to hear her just yet.

Tiny Ruins' Brightly Painted One is out May 3rd in Australia on Spunk Records, May 5th in the UK/EU on Bella Union, and May 13th in the US on Flying Nun. Mark your calendars.

Watch: Gin Wigmore - "Hey Ho"

Seems like it's new video week as on top of MGMT and Janelle Monae's new videos, Gin Wigmore celebrates her newfound residency in the US with the release of "Hey Ho" the third single from Holy Smoke with a video. The video features Wigmore traipsing about a desert in old school western dress with numerous objects of torture like whips, pistols, and even a shotgun accompanying by two reacting fat ladies, and a mariachi band. Don't worry it all kinda makes sense.

Gin Wigmore - Holy Smoke (2010)

Lyrics from lead track "Oh My": "I've had two years in heaven, but five weeks in, hell/Where do I go now?" sets the stage for the debut album from New Zealand songtress Gin Wigmore. The follow up to her Extended Play EP, Holy Smoke, was released in the fall of last year abroad and enjoying release in the States earlier this week on Universal Motown Records and features Gin delivering tongue-in-cheek vocals backed by The Cardinals such as second track "Hey Ho" which has Wigmore delivering threats to the one who wronged her. Gin Wigmore's dry raspy voice and take-no-prisoners song lyrics almost make tender tracks like "I Do" and "Dying Day" seem like an impossibility. But she manages to dull her hard rock edge and display an emotional vulnerability in these songs that would really move most listeners. The balance between tough and vulnerable is achieved with fun tracks like "Mr. Freakshow" where Wigmore makes it clear she doesn't want to be treated like a lady and "One Last Look". Wigmore's debut album is a delightful balance between rock-fuelled silliness, seriousness, and sensuality in a similar manner to her Extended Play. Holy Smoke is pop with a hard rock feel that progresses into a tender territory in a way that will have listeners craving for more. Luckily Gin is coming stateside to play a few tour dates at this year's SXSW, so those craving a live performance won't have to look too hard to see her.

Enjoy the fast-paced first single and lead track from Holy Smoke "Oh My":