Tiny Ruins - Brightly Painted One Album Review
Tiny Ruins is the creation of New Zealand musician and songwriter Hollie Fullbrook. It all began when she started writing music for theatre productions through-out Wellington and playing live music at poetry nights.
Her album Brightly Painted One, I believe shows her background in song writing. Being able to capture emotions and express it through lyrics and melodies. Her songs are capsules of storytelling that are calming and pleasurable to listen too. Her soft voice takes us on a journey that has an enchanted aspect to it. While listening to this album I felt like I was part of a magical journey and I congratulate her on making music that creates wonderful imagery for its listener.
Highlights from the album were Me At The Museum You At The Wintergardens, Carriages and She’ll Be Coming Round.
Me At The Muesum You At The Wintergardens is a love song. It tells of a dreamlike place where love is found and is told over a wonderful guitar picked melody. The Wintergardens is pictured clearly, with it being a place where lovers can meet and enjoy the wonders that the garden has. The museum is depicted as this magical place were people do not grow old and is told over lovely harmonies that add more technical aspects to the song.
The second song Carriages has a wonderful beginning, deep guitar strings being plucked and a higher pitched melody under the lyrics of the song. The chorus had me humming along and it is a beautiful sounding song that Tiny Ruins should be absolutely chuffed with.
She’ll Be Coming Round is a more sombre song that is shown in the slow plucking pace of the guitar and the pauses between each sentence of lyrics, making you think about each sentence of the song and the story behind it. Again, a wonderful example of imagery with a women riding on a horse to her destination, “Hooves are bounding across the fields, Her body is a river flowing, She’ll be coming round”. A beautifully constructed song that is my favourite on this lovely sounding album.
Tiny Ruins is an artists that uses simplicity to her advantage. She knows her sound and how to construct individual pieces of art that show a vivid story taking listeners on a wonderful listening experience.
I do think her song writing could be taken on to the next stage. Producing more diverse creative themes throughout. By taking this slight risk it may be a great benefit to her future.
However, if you want an album with beautiful guitar melodies and that’s been created with time and care, then this is the one for you.
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About Tiny Ruins
Fullbrook was born in Bristol, England, before moving to New Zealand with her family at the age of ten and settling in West Auckland. She learnt the cello from a young age, picking the guitar up and writing songs in her early teenage years. Asked to support Alasdair Roberts in Sydney, May 2010, she was signed to Australian indie label Spunk Records on the strength of some demos. Tiny Ruins’ debut Some Were Meant For Sea was released in 2011 and saw critical praise for its minimalist approach & lyrical flair. Recorded by Fullbrook and producer Greg ‘J’ Walker (Machine Translations) in a small hall in South Gippsland, the album was voted 2011’s Album of the Year by BBC World Service arts & culture programme ‘World of Music’ and was a finalist for New Zealand’s Taite Prize in 2012. Tours of New Zealand, Australia & Europe followed, with Fullbrook performing solo, and later as a duo with Cass Basil on upright bass, supporting The Handsome Family throughout the UK.
Joining forces with drummer Alex Freer, Tiny Ruins evolved into a three-piece, recording a bluesy EP, Haunts, together in the Waipu bush, before working with Tom Healy at The Lab in Auckland on their second album, Brightly Painted One. Championed by the New York Times, NPR and David Lynch, it won Best Alternative Album at the New Zealand Music Awards in 2014, and saw a joint release by labels Bella Union, Spunk Records and Flying Nun.
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Tiny Ruins
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