#Hollie Fullbrook

[bandcampsnoop]

12/12/23.

I get daily reminders of the pace with which life passes by. Itasca's new album "Imitation of War" will be coming out in early 2024. And, I remember enjoying Kayla Cohen's earlier releases, but I guess it just doesn't seem like 7 1/2 years ago that I did that enjoying.

There is only one song currently available, but if the rest of the album sounds like the song "Imitation of War" then we're all in for a treat as Cohen turns up the reverb to sound like a cross between Weyes Blood and Felt. I'm still reminded of Hollie Fullbrook of Tiny Ruins. I would add Erin Umstead of Local Tourist.

This is being released by Paradise of Bachelors.

[dustedmagazine]

Tiny Ruins — Olympic Girls (BaDaBing)

Olympic Girls by Tiny Ruins

NZ songwriter Hollie Fullbrook opens up the strummy, self-reveal significantly in this third album, enlarging her pensive ditties with dramatic gestures in strings, percussion, keyboards and additional guitars. She does this deftly, without sacrificing the personal, idiosyncratic connection with listeners. You still feel like she’s telling you, craftily, in meter and metaphor, about a series of events that made an impression on her. 

The first song Fullbrook wrote, the one, according to interviews, that led her in this more expansive direction, was “One Million Flowers,” and you see why. It has a satisfying heft and drama. There’s a punch and recoil in its reeling three-four rhythm, a surging surety in the way its French nightclub melody gains strength from massed “ah ah”s, twinkling keyboard and raucous percussion. Fullbrook sounds like she’s been caught up in it, buoyed by its warm density and tossed this way and that by waves of tuneful melody.

Other songs work on a smaller scale, sparely, precisely and without fuss. “School of Design” employs an agile, bell-like acoustic guitar to frame its narrative, as Fullbrook muses about the careful work of art, as well as its transporting, transrational power. She walks through empty studios and pores over dusty archives in the verse, then gets caught up in ecstatic bursts of creation at the payoff. “I was struck by a feeling, it’s hard to describe, the urge burst through the ceiling, stunned, raised glass to the sky.” The song, too, alternates between meticulous preparation and exhilarating climax, marching plinks of glockenspiel, distant percussion and rumbling insinuations of noise.

Here as elsewhere, Fullbrook’s voice is soft, bright and mostly unornamented. She has a way of fluttering up the octave at the most dramatic lyrical payoffs, her high pure soprano voice skittering off away from sentimentality, into a birdlike realm of pure tone.

There are some striking images. Amidst the bright, glittery keyboards of “Sparklers,” Fullbrook sings “I wrote your name in cursive on the air, flailing my arms around me, conducting down to the wire,” both the words and the music evoking the evanescent fizzle of sparklers, summer evenings and new love. Later, in “Holograms,” a song embellished with jazzy vocal slides, she speaks of battling the grim reaper, saved in the end only by a Darth Vader souvenir helmet. Yet while whimsical, the song carries a warmth and longing in it; each chorus ends in the title, with the final syllable of “holograms” lifting into sleepy, lovely flight.

Fullbrook is quite a good singer, a subtle lyricist and a skillful crafter of melodies, but in Olympic Girls, she pulls all three aptitudes together in an organic way that is more than the sum of its parts.

Jennifer Kelly

[transit-of-venus]

The Phoenix Foundation - Decision Dollars (2020)

[sinceileftyoublog]

Marlon Williams & Tiny Ruins Live Show Review: 3/8, Empty Bottle, Chicago

Marlon Williams (left) and Tiny Ruins (right)

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Baby-faced New Zealand singer-songwriter Marlon Williams came out on stage last night at the Empty Bottle to find out that his acoustic guitar wasn’t tuned. After tuning it and playing his first song, he instructed the audience, “If my guitar goes out of tune, yell at me.” He admitted he sounded facetious, but he was serious. If his recent album Make Way For Love and the rest of his set was any indication, he’s a perfectionist. Not the type unwilling to let loose--his set was one of the more freewheeling I’ve seen in recent memory--but wanting to sound pristine while singing and playing about falling apart.

The rest of his band, a synth/violin/guitar player, synth player/bassist, and drummer, joined on “Come to Me” and proceeded to burn through almost all of Make Way in addition to cuts from his self-titled debut. The first half of the set was surprisingly stripped down, giving space to Williams’ key playing and the band’s vocal harmonies on “Beautiful Dress”, the bossa nova melody on “I Know A Jeweller”, and the double synthesizers on “The Fire of Love”. It showcased just how good the songs are. But starting with “I Didn’t Make a Plan”, which ended with joyous controlled cacophony, the set showed the other side of Williams: rollicking, old-school rocker. “Dark Child”, chock full of solos, crescendos, and noise, generated the most cheers from the crowd. Williams broke a string playing it, remarking to the crowd, “I’m such a novice guitar player that whenever I break a string I get extremely excited...and then extremely worried.” His genuine demeanor just added to his charm, admitting everything from his shortcomings to how grateful he was to play the Empty Bottle. The band, too, had a sense of humor, taunting him with bossa nova-lite elevator music while he fixed his string.

Two of the best songs on Make Way for Love were also standouts in the set. “Party Boy” felt like it was played at double speed, getting the crowd moving. And “Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore”, a duet with ex-girlfriend Aldous Harding on the album, was done with the bassist, just as affecting and catchy without the context of the breakup. After a few more songs and an encore, Williams ended with an absolutely showstopping cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “Portrait of a Man”, possessed by the demons of rock n’ roll, showing his voice has no limits.

Opening for Williams was Tiny Ruins, the Auckland folk ensemble of Hollie Fullbrook. She was there by herself, armed with an acoustic guitar and a couple pedals, giving her the opportunity to share her admirable finger picking skills and the depth of her smoky voice. Apparently, she met Williams years ago in Christchurch when a band he was in opened for her. Now, the tables have obviously turned, but Tiny Ruins has lost none of its luster. They’ve finished a 3rd, unreleased album, and new songs like “One Million Flowers” and “Bounty” held their own against old favorites like the guitar scraped “Dream Wave”. As a lyricist, Fullbrook is both conversational and a storyteller. But the amount of sound she’s able to get out of her guitar is what makes her mesmerizing. The night’s pre-, between, and post-set DJs played classic rock like Elton John and Cat Stevens and contemporary classics like Angel Olsen, and it made me think that both Marlon Williams and Tiny Ruins will be included in those playlists in the not-so-far future.

[thebowerypresents]

A Dreamy Night of New Zealand Delights with Aldous Harding

Aldous Harding – Music Hall of Williamsburg – September 30, 2019

It was a Monday night of New Zealand delights at a sold-out Music Hall of Williamsburg. The show began with an opening set from Auckland songwriter Hollie Fullbrook, who performs as Tiny Ruins. Playing solo, she was a gentle breeze of fingerpicked folk, with selections largely from her latest album, Olympic Girls. Songs like “School of Design,” “Kore Waits in the Underworld” and the title track revealed her insightful observational songwriting wrapped in endearing beauty and a voice to match.

Headliner Aldous Harding followed her band onto the stage at precisely 9 p.m., blithely exclaimed, “This crazy city” into the microphone and sat down on a cushioned stool center stage, a classical-style guitar on her lap and then … and then, not so much started playing her set, but more like lapsed into a trance. The song she played, at first just solo, singing and guitar, was “The World Is Looking for You,” off of her 2017 album, Party, but while it was her hands on the guitar and her mouth delivering the lyrics, it felt like the music was coming straight out of her eyes. The rest of the set seemed the same, expressions from those eyes channeling something from within Harding, eyes that smiled, that popped out, that questioned, squinting, protruding, fluttering, devious, silly, goofy, thoughtful, playful eyes, eyes that seemed to seek out every other pair of eyes in the room, delivering the music straight from her mind to theirs. She had the energy of a silent movie star, a Buster Keaton portraying all the pathos and humor through a simple gaze. But, of course, this was not a silent performance.

The set drew from both her newest delightful album, Designer, as well as selections from the past catalog, alternating between delicate folk riddled with melodic complexities to exotic funk, progressive grooves of unknown origin. The new album’s title track had Harding out of her seat, dancing along with the music and the packed house. “Zoo Eyes” was a hazy, surrealistic folk, Harding singing, “I drove my inner child to a show.” We often call music dreamlike to capture its ethereality, but the set was dreamlike in a more literal sense, like an actual dream, one where you’re naked in public for no reason or falling through the air in a way that’s both thrilling and frightening.

“The Barrel” was a crowd-pleasing groove of popcorn bass and a shuffling hiss. Many songs would start with Harding playing solo and then her band would join in at the perfect moment with keyboards, drums, bass and guitar, like manifestations of her musical subconscious, brought into existence by a look from those eyes. She moved to the keyboards on “Damn,” for a duet a whisper above silence before the band joined in with trumpet and fingerpicked guitar. The enthusiastically earned encore concluded with a new one, “Oh Dear,” Harding out of her seat again, clacking a drumstick on a coffee cup to augment the weirdo rhythmic psychedelia of the song, her eyes scanning the audience one last time, a crazy city made a little crazier on this Monday night. —A. Stein | @Neddyo

[hannahboyle]

Raising Glass to the Sky: An Interview with Tiny Ruins

“...While gentleness, softness is in my nature, I’m also teasing, obnoxious, tenacious.”

[mudpuddling-moved]

i love hollie fullbrook sm

[jungleindierock]

Tiny Ruins - Holograms

Holograms is the fourth single from Tiny Ruins album, Olympic Girls, which is set for release on the 1st February 2019. This video was directed by Martin Sagadin.

Formed as a solo project in 2009 by singer-songwriter Hollie Fullbrook, the band now includes Cass Basil on bass, Alex Freer on drums & Tom Healy on electric guitar. . 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.

Links: Facebook | Twitter | Site

[daggerzine]

Tiny Ruins- OLYMPIC GIRLS (BA DA BING)

It’s been about a decade that New Zealand’s Hollie Fullbrook has been recording under the name Tiny Ruins. Her 2011 debut, Some Were Meant For Sea, was very spare while she added more instrumentation on 2014’s even better Brightly Painted One. That brings us to record number three which is even  more full with rhythm section plus a multi-instrumentalist and Fullbrook’s unique, gorgeous voice (producer Tom Healy is the one playing guitar). The opening title track set the stage here perfectly while the next cut , “School of Design” sounds like it could’ve come out on the Hannibal or Island label in the UK circa 1968 (a female counterpart to Nick Drake, perhaps?). The whimsical “Holgrams” is one of my favorites on here as is the trippier, enchanting “One Million Flowers.” Fullbrook’s songwriting has gotten better with each release and Olympic Girls shows her truly at the top of her game. This one is already one my short list for best of 2019 (early in the year, I know, but that shows the strength of the record). www.badabingrecords.com

[jotcamp]

My PhD supervisor is really upset that I won’t write an article about Greek and Roman myth in modern music. Maybe a playlist would make it up to him? Tiny Ruins is a Kiwi folk-y dream pop project headed by Hollie Fullbrook, and their latest album is absolutely gorgeous. (Kore = Persephone, btw)

[moldytundra]

Tiny Ruins - “Holograms”

New Zealand band Tiny Ruins shares “Holograms”, the fourth track released from their forthcoming album Olympic Girls, out February 1st via Ba Da Bing. Originally conceived as the solo project of singer-songwriter Hollie Fullbrook, Tiny Ruins has evolved to include Cass Basil on bass, Alex Freer on drums and Tom Healy on electric guitar.

“Holograms is a conversation in a way, where one person posits the idea that technology will increasingly connect us. That we will not just be emotionally or mentally connected, but that our bodies will transcend physical and mortal bounds via technology. That we can bring someone back” Fullbrook notes.

Olympic Girls was produced by bandmate Tom Healy in the same underground space (Paquin Studios at The Lab in hometown Auckland) as their 2014 album, Brightly Painted One. Whereas Brightly Painted One was recorded in three short weeks, Olympic Girls recordings took place over a year. It is the culmination of a flourish of spontaneity and experimentation and stridently reaches beyond Fullbrook's formerly minimalist domain. Olympic Girls is Tiny Ruins' first release since their 2016 single "Dream Wave", which was recorded and produced by David Lynch and chosen by Lorde for the Hunger Games soundtrack blueprint she curated. Olympic Girls will be released on LP, CD and digitally via Ba Da Bing (North America), Ursa Minor (NZ), Milk! Records (AU), and Marathon Records (UK / EU) on February 1st .To celebrate the release Tiny Ruins are touring the UK and Europe, all dates are below.

Tiny Ruins Tour Dates: Sat. Feb. 2nd – London, UK @ Rough Trade East Tue. Feb. 5th – Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade Thu. Mar. 21st – Amsterdam, NL @ Cinetol Fri. Mar. 22nd – Rotterdam, NL @ Rotown Sat. Mar. 23rd – Antwerp, BE @ Trix Bar Sun. Mar. 24th – Ostend, BE @ Café De Zwerver Tue. Mar. 26th – Bristol, UK @ The Exchange Wed. Mar. 27th – London, UK @ Bush Hall Thu. Mar. 28th – Manchester, UK @ The Kings Arms Fri. Mar. 29th – Glasgow, UK @ The Hug & Pint Tue. Apr. 2nd – Allones, FR @ Peniche Excelsior Wed. Apr. 3rd – Tourcoing, FR @ Maison Folie Hospice d’havré Thu. Apr. 4th – Rouen, FR @ Le 106 Fri. Apr. 5th – Paris, FR @ Les Femmes s’en mêlent, Trabendo Sat. Apr. 6th – Luzern, CH @ Neubad Mon. Apr. 8th – Munich, DE @ Milla Tue. Apr. 9th – Heidelberg, DE @ Karlstorbahnhof Wed. Apr. 10th – Berlin, DE @ Privatclub Thu. Apr. 11th – Hanover, DE @ Feinkostlampe Fri. Apr. 12th – Copenhagen, DK @ Ideal Bar, Vega Sat. Apr. 13th – Oslo, NO @ Pokalen Sun. Apr. 14th – Stockholm, SE @ Obaren

[bandcampsnoop]

12/24/22.

This never got posted somehow following it's release in early 2019. Listening to the collaboration with Hamish these last couple weeks made me want to revisit. This album has an expansive yet also intimate feeling. Like the album cover. A quiet scene amidst a huge space. Hope we get a follow up from Hollie Fullbrook in one form or another in 2023.

[rollingstonemag]

Un nouvel article a été publié sur https://www.rollingstone.fr/la-playlist-de-la-redaction-20/

La Playlist de la rédaction #20

Cette semaine, Rolling Stone vous propose une playlist à base de B-Side toute fraîche des Arctic Monkeys, d’indé automnal signé Julia Holter, Tiny Ruins et Golden Daze, sous oublier la touche pop incontournable à la Saint DX

Arctic Monkeys – Anyways 

Cette année, les Arctic Monkeys nous ont gâté d’un nouvel album délicieusement vintage, à l’allure directement inspirée de la galaxie Bowie. Bref, on ne va pas revenir sur cette belle surprise qu’était Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino, qui continue encore de faire son petit bonhomme de chemin avec la sortie du single éponyme sous un jolie édition vinyle. En cadeau, Alex Turner et sa bande dévoilent l’inédite « Anyways », ballade neurasthénique à mi-chemin entre « Star Treatment » et le slow final « The Ultracheese ». En soit, ce morceau aurait très bien pu figurer sur l’opus mais anyway, il demeure un plaisir de découvrir, à posteriori, de jolis trésors jusqu’à aujourd’hui enterrés.

Tiny Ruins – School of Design

Mené de front par la musicienne néo-zélandaise Hollie Fullbrook, le projet Tiny Ruins est parfait pour vos prochaines soirées froides hivernales. Le prochain album, Olympic Girls, prévu au cours de l’année à l’horizon, s’illustre d’un nouvel extrait introspectif, « School of Design ». « Les paroles sont issues d’une expérience réelle où je me suis retrouvée errant dans une école de design vide, dans une ville étrangère pendant une tournée. C’est de là que m’est venue l’image de la peinture blanche fraîche sur les murs et les « archives », a déclaré Fullbrook. Un très beau moment suspendu dans le temps, qu’on s’accorde volontiers.

Julia Holter – Whelther 

Son nouvel album, Aviary, nous a impressionné de sa candeur. La musicienne Julia Holter est fascinante : avec cinq albums à son effectif, elle ne cesse jamais de se dépasser. Épique, picturale, ses disques forment une fresque et provoquent le vertige. Si ce nouveau morceau fraîchement clipé, « Whelther », s’inscrit dans la lignée sonore de ce dernier opus, c’est aussi sûrement le segment le plus accessible. Il n’en est pas moins excellent et à écouter de toute urgence.

Golden Daze – Blue Bell

Avec sa folk lo-fi et ses chœurs façon Simon & Garfunkel, le duo Golden Daze s’apprête à sortir un deuxième disque, Simpatico, en février prochain. Pas sûr que l’hiver nous épargne de ses morsures, mais d’ici là, la musique de Jacob Loeb and Ben Schwab aura très certainement de quoi nous réchauffer, avec ses grosses couvertures pleines de mélancolie.

Shay Lia – The Cycle

R’n’B à l’aise dans ses baskets, la musique de Shay Lia, petite protégée du producteur KAYTRANADA, risque de retentir très fort en 2019.

Housewives – Speak to Me

En plus de proposer un des titres les plus angoissants de l’année, Housewives, formation math-rock originaire de Londres, allie le geste à la parole en proposant un clip, mise en scène d’un décor écrasé par le poids des pixels de Google Maps. Rappelant tour à tour la voix glaçante de Ian Curtis ou les expérimentations martiales de Death in June, « Speak to Me » est un des ovnis de cette fin d’année.

[transit-of-venus]

The Phoenix Foundation - Tranquility (with Hollie Fullbrook) (2020)

[tulipblack]

COCK BLOCK & TITBIT #154

/  / 7 & 14 November 2020 /  / LISTEN LIVE ON 8K.NZ Friday 12:00 NZT repeats Saturday 15:00, Monday 06:00, Wednesday 00:00 /  / Tulip Black - COCK BLOCK #154 Megan Thee Stallion - Don't Stop ft Young Thug JunglePussy - No Band Aid / Telepathy Sampa The Great - Times Up ft Junglepussy / Black August (live) Jazmine Sullivan - Lost One Chelsea Wolfe - In Heaven (cover) Sarah Mary Chadwick - Every Loser Needs a Mother Adrianne Lenker - Anything Greta Morgan - When the Sun Comes Up Cults - Trials Smerz - I don't talk about that much / hva hvis Eartheater - Faith Consuming Hope Roisin Murphy - Something More Chaii - Lightswitch [nz] Rinse - Back Into Your Arms ft Hatchie Sylvan Esso - Train

Kebabette - TITBIT #154 1. Millie B – M to the B 2. Fukkk Offf – Berserker 3. Blackpink featuring Cardi B  - Bet you wanna 4. Junglepussy – Main attraction 5. PollyHill – Spooky [NZ] 6. Lucy Camp – EL 7. Moana and the Tribe  featuring Inka Mbing  - Tōku Reo [NZ] 8. Lebanon Hanover – Digital Ocean 9. Neko – Serious [NZ] 10. Suzanne Vega – Marlene on the wall 11. Teyana Taylor – Concrete 12. The Phoenix Foundation with Hollie Fullbrook – Decision Dollars [NZ] 13. Roisin Murphy – Jealousy 14. Suzi Wu – Eat them apples 15. Jonathan Bree featuring Princess Chelsea – Kiss my lips [NZ] Image: Adam and Eve - Lucas Cranach the Elder / Public domain

[jungleindierock]

Tiny Ruins - How Much

Video for the new single from Tiny Ruins, it’s taken from Tiny Ruins new thrid album, as yet untitled, which will be out late 2018. This video was directed and edited by Charlotte Evans. The band on this record are Cass Basil (bass guitar, backing vocals) Alex Freer (drums), Hollie Fullbrook (vocals, acoustic guitar, cello) and Tom Healy (electric guitar).