Tiny Ruins will release their second album, Brightly Painted One, on 2nd May 2014. The album is their first since signing with UK’s indie record label Bella Union, after label founder Simon Raymonde, himself a well known musician from the band Cocteau Twins, witnessed Tiny Ruins perform at a music industry event in Auckland late 2013. Bella Union is home to indie music royalty Beach House, Fleet Foxes and The Flaming Lips.
The U.S.A will have their copies of the Brightly Painted One album delivered by Flying Nun Records. In Australia and New Zealand, Tiny Ruins are still with Spunk Records and now with the added clout of the Arch Hill label on the home front.
Click HERE to hear the beguiling opening track and first single, Me at the Museum, You In The Wintergardens or listen below:
Formed as a solo project in 2009 by songwriter Hollie Fullbrook, the band now includes bassist Cass Basil and drummer Alexander Freer. While continuing to be based in their native New Zealand, Tiny Ruins has spent much of the past three years touring throughout Australia, Europe & the US, opening for artists such as Beach House, Joanna Newsom, Fleet Foxes, Father John Misty, The Handsome Family and Calexico.
Lyrically ambiguous and poignant, the songs roughly follow in the traditions of folk and blues that Fullbrook has drawn on in the past, engaging moods both hopeful and world-weary. Yet there is more of an expansive approach to this album – where debut Some Were Meant for Sea presented a host of characterful vignettes, Brightly Painted One follows a journey, cyclical and whole, with tones falling between dream pop and folk-blues.
While still retaining a minimalist approach, this sophomore release is layered and shaped with an array of brass, percussion and strings. The arrangements are lush and fully-realised, with the warm fuzz of hammond and rhodes keyboards, subtle string parts and electric guitar jangles and thrums. Brightly Painted One was recorded with engineer Tom Healy over several months in the underground warren of passageways and small rooms at Auckland studios ‘The Lab’.
The writing of these songs spans roughly three years, growing out of Fullbrook’s varied life of touring, working when home, relationships and everyday observation. From the mountain walks of She’ll Be Coming ‘Round , the roof-tops of White Sheet Lightning and the street corners of Reasonable Man, the songs document the stasis and the movement of life; of persevering its humour and mystery.
Brightly Painted One will be released 2nd May, 2014 on Spunk / Arch Hill in New Zealand and Australia, 5th of May via Bella Union in UK/Europe, and 13th of May on Flying Nun in the USA.
Album artwork is by an Auckland Elam masters student, Johl Dwyer.
Hollie asked him to paint the cover based on/inspired by some Bengali book covers from the late 1960s
Photo Credit: Georgie Craw
High res photo can be downloaded from this Dropbox link: CLICK HERE
tinyruins.bandcamp.com/
