august, 2018
29aug8:00 pm11:00 pmTiny RuinsKilmanjaro Live presents 8:00 pm - 11:00 pm Upstairs
Event Details
“Haunting melodies and deeply involved lyricism [mark] Tiny Ruins as one of the best acts to harness the power of dark folk…Expansive, experimental and exciting.“ - Hhhhappy Tiny Ruins are a band based
Event Details
“Haunting melodies and deeply involved lyricism [mark] Tiny Ruins as
one of the best acts to harness the power of dark folk…Expansive,
experimental and exciting.“ – Hhhhappy
Tiny Ruins are a band based in Auckland, New Zealand. Conceived in 2009 by songwriter
Hollie Fullbrook to describe her solo output, the group now includes Cass Basil on bass, Alex
Freer on drums & Tom Healy on electric guitar. Traversing early influences of folk and
blues, Tiny Ruins’ sound draws on ethereal and grungy soundscapes alike. Sometimes likened
to Nick Drake, Mazzy Star or Nico, Fullbrook’s voice and guitar work evades cliché, making
use of alternate tunings by way of her own self-styled fingerpicking. Lyrically one of a kind, stories are laced with a dark humour that is at times disarmingly confessional, at others, cryptic and philosophical.
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 from her early teenage years. Asked to support Alasdair
Roberts in Sydney, May 2010, she was soon 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.
Tiny Ruins have undertaken several international headlining tours, both in a solo capacity
and as a band, opening for Calexico on their 2013 Australasian tour, Sharon Van Etten
across the USA in 2014, and an eclectic array of opening slots, from Beach House, Joanna
Newsom and Father John Misty to Neil Finn, Ryan Adams and Leon Bridges.
Most recently, Fullbrook has collaborated with drummer Hamish Kilgour of The Clean. An
EP recorded in Brooklyn with producer Gary Olson, Hurtling Through was released in
November 2015, featuring two poems by W.B.Yeats set to music. The band are currently
working on their third album.
Time
(Wednesday) 8:00 pm - 11:00 pm
Location
Upstairs
Price
on sale Friday at 10am