Customer Reviews

Close Enough

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I ordered this album on whim. I stumbled across the video for "Closer" online, and fell in love with the song and the sound of the band. This album is spare and quirky, and yet haunting and beautiful. Overall, the sound is mellow, introspective, and dreamy. I love this album.

The instrumentation consists of piano/keyboards, violin, cello, and double base. The lead singer makes interesting use of her voice. She croons. She whispers. Sometimes, she even warbles. Her quirky voice is accompanied by harmony on only one track. Together, these elements combine to create an album unlike anything out there right now.

This album is an excellent addition to any music collection.

If Regina Spektor sang like Joanna Newsom, roped in a pianist and a cellist, and formed a peculiar little band, the result would sound something like The Tiny.

The Swedish trio debuted a few years back with "Close Enough," which takes all the conventions of classical pop and squishes them. Bizarre lyrics, yowly vocals and an anti-pop mentality all come into play, although the instrumentation needed a wee bit of work at the time.

"Nooowwwwww I'm thinking maybe/I was stoned/I felt my feet lift off the ground/and my heart was screaming/and my bones might need you closer," Ellekari Larsson croons over some plinky piano and slow-moving cello. In a roundabout way, she describes the situations where people can't help but fall in love.

It's a quirky, hook-free little song, and the Tiny then tries out some smoother songs like the smooth cello-heavy "In My Back." But it doesn't take long for the band to trickle back to the odd, a-melodic songs -- breathless antipop with lots of oddball classical instrumentation.

It's kind of hard to put a label on the Tiny's sound, since there are echoes of different genres, but no definite unified "sound." If you have to call it anything, it could be called neoclassical-gothic-antifolk, with a bit of countryish alt-pop in "Just Like You."

Few bands can make so much of so little -- very minimal instrumentation, without any studio tricks. What's the problem with it? The spare instrumentation is lovely -- winging cello and some lovely plinking rippling piano, and Leo Svensson and bassist Johan Berthling do a brilliant job. But somehow the instrumentation never quite meshes in this album. At times it sounds like the piano and cello are duking it out, and sometimes one of them will swamp the other.

But Larsson is a wonderful singer, sounding a bit like Joanna Newsom attempting Regina Spektor's style. She yowls, trills and breathlessly sings, in a high little voice that never tries to sound even remotely normal. And she sings strange little songs about, "just as the radiation touches your skin/it makes you go insane/but gets rid of all your pain!"

The Tiny needed to wear down their rough edges in "Close Enough" (their next album is more polished) but it's still charming in an oddball way. Worth checking out, if you love the weird stuff.

This is adorable music, but not in the American sense of the word. It's a very non-melodic style and extremely abstract as well. What makes it adorable is the way it's executed, slow, methodical, light, breathy and in the style of Beth Gibbons from Portishead, who in turn was influenced by Billie Holliday and another singer named Shirley who last name I can't remember. In addition to the adorable quality of her voice, there is a certain element of darkness that accompanies this music and I think it has something to do with the dissonant style that pops up at times, but I'm still welcome to this since it's distinctive to me. As far as what the instruments sound like, just look at the cover and the instruments that they have, it's that spare. It has a worthy place in my collection and I enjoy it quietly.

I was not a fan of The Tiny on first listen, but I soon became intrigued and then very into it and now I own the cd. I don't recommend them to everyone. Music is subjective. At least give it a try though. You might find them fascinating too.

Portishead with a twist. The twist is that there are pianos and violins in place of the turntables. The singer is a woman and has a beautiful voice that reminds me of Portishead's singer and somewhat Bjork. This is very relaxing music. Is does not go anywhere fast. The musicians know where they are going and are in no hurry to get there. Which is nice because in this day and age everyone is running late and hurrys to the end.