Lorna Irvine reviews the 'magnificent, funny, beautiful' performance, part of Celtic Connections.
The nocturnal sighs of New Zealand's Tiny Ruins are always beguiling, earning them much critical acclaim worldwide. Live, they are absolutely heart-stopping.
Hollie Fullbrook's warm, keening vocals and deft guitar picking are what make them so special. She's also a wry frontwoman whose love of ephemera is reflected in her (often caustic) lyrics. She sculpts startling new shapes out of the prosaic, as with her tale of a childhood prank on a neighbour which lasted years, 'The Ballad of the Hanging Parcel', cyclical noirish dream-pop which could be termed magical realism were that not so trite a term.
The somnambulant waltz of 'Chainmail Maker' offers darker imagery: "Battered bones/nothing of comfort here"; and a trip to Glasgow's own ancient graveyard the Necropolis inspired 'Jamie Blue'. There is a sense Fullbrook is a woman out of time. Indeed, the latest hit single 'Me at the Museum, You at the Winter garden' is the location where she seeks solace and contemplation, like a modern day Morrissey.
In the main though, it's the spectral humming harmonies of Fullbrook and bassist Cassie Basil which lift Tiny Ruins like the titular 'Priest With Balloons' above our snowy city. Tonight, they soar. Magnificent. Funny. Beautiful.
Tiny Ruins - Me At The Museum, You In The Winterg…: http://youtu.be/KOQL4P1acNU
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