The songs began to form during long stretches Fullbrook spent exploring the area with her dogs, finding inspiration in its minutiae as illustrated in lead single, ‘The Crab/Waterbaby’. The landscape began to seep in in other ways too, ostensibly small details have large implications, like how the perpetual dramatic motion of the tides evokes those unseen forces far beyond our control that nevertheless push and pull our lives in unexpected directions.

Latest single ‘Dorothy Bay’ is perhaps the best illustration of the record as a whole. The heaviest song on the album (and maybe of the entire Tiny Ruins catalogue), it showcases the rich, complex arrangements that spring from the well of collaboration between Fullbrook and her long-time bandmates—Cass Basil (bass), Alex Freer (drums), and Tom Healy (electric guitar). Watch the psychedelic video, directed by Alexander Gandar and shot on location at Manukau Harbour, below:

Ceremony will be released on 28th April via Marathon Artists and Ba Da Bing Records. You can pre-order it now from the Tiny Ruins Bandcamp page.

Cover photo by Frances Carter, album art by Christiane Shortal

The post Tiny Ruins – Dorothy Bay appeared first on Various Small Flames.

And the usual disclaimer applies, there were too many great tunes to include them all, so treat this more as a selection rather than a comprehensive round-up of the year. Enjoy.

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson – Constellation

“You’re used to quiet words
and so am I
so I’ll just whisper“

Tiny Ruins – Dream Wave

“always a dream wave drawing you off track
dream wave, a coast calls you back“

Magana – Get it Right

“You were red but my gold turned you green
So you stood there lying through your teeth“

deer scout – holy ghost

“I could find a new kind of devotion
I could know you by another name“

Hovvdy – Meg

“Speak because i know you feel a certain way
but ill pass it along anyway“

Bedbug – Leaving Town, Moving to a National Park <3

“I’m too young for that anyways
everyone’s just tryna skip town these days“

Soccer Mommy – Skinned Knees

“i left
burning streets in tennessee
for a north east feel“

Mitski – Your Best American Girl

“Your mother wouldn’t approve of how my mother raised me
But I do, I finally do“

LVL UP – Hidden Driver

“God is peeking
softly speaking
fucking everything
until I slowly do see“

Lisa Prank – Starting Again

“You say you’re not still drinking
you just started again
I swear I don’t still miss you
I just started again“

Dicktations – Dicktations Forever

“It’s hard to say when I first figured out something was wrong“

Joyride! – Running on Empty

“Young and running on empty
you said that you thought I looked pretty with my makeup on
so I went home and I took it off“

Sioux Falls (now Stranger Ranger) – Dom

“Spending too much time on the internet
are you ok? you don’t seem very into it“

Camp Cope – Jet Fuel Can’t Melt Steel Beams

“It’s the trophy wives raising trophy wives raising children on TV
Scared of people like you and me
Just don’t ask questions you’ll sleep peacefully
We will not go out in silence and we will not go quietly“

Fake Boyfriend – BUMTOWN

“Why do I cling to the threads that mean the least?“

Outer Spaces – I Saw You

“I saw you, a shedding snake“

American Enthusiasm – Holy Wow

“Make a note of all the words I cough out on my death bed“

The Hotelier – Soft Animal

“Fawn, doe, light snow
Spots on brown of white 
make me believe that there’s a God sometimes“

Beach Slang – Future Mixtape for the Art Kids

“We’re not lost, we are dying in style
We’re not fucked, we are fucking alive“

CHUCK – Death

“You hold on to whatever kin
that keeps on breathin’ in
that keeps you from driftin’
like paper in the wind“

You Won’t – Ya Ya Ya

“So your daddy was a poltergeist
sent your little sister screaming down the hallway
well I don’t know about the afterlife,
but I can help you to forget about the old days“

Mountain Almanac – Kids Playing Outside

“Saturday morning, cartoon time, let’s go“

Basement Revolver – Johnny

“Please just stay away from Johnny
cos I love him understand“

Boy Scouts – Did You See My Cry

“walking walmart shopping center
i’d never been better
on my own two feet
i guess“

Free Cake For Every Creature – First Summer in a City

“i’ll be singing when i’m 90
climb a tree to see
what tastes to smokey sweet
first summer in a city“

Haley Heynderickx – First I’m Sorry

“Mother knows I drown in my lies
Father knows I learned my lesson the second time.
Ask me where I’ll go I’ll say do not know
No, I do not know“

ARMS – Missing

“I don’t want to force your hand
but wishes disguised as plans will never do
Like the king of deathbed regrets
and the queen of last requests could ever choose“

Naps – Bad Vibrations

“Can’t stand up to the world’s expectations
I’m living on a bad bad vibration“

The Washboard Abs – Day Draws Nearer

“Your backyard
you talked to God
about the heartbreak you forgot“

Trace Mountains – Forgiveness

“old dirt you thrown underneath the stair
is right there
right where you said i’d tremble and stare
at the vast unforgiving spirit lurking there
but it takes time, to realise forgiveness“

Nassau – Desert Blues

“I took a marker and wrote your number on the bathroom stall
That’s just my way of reaching out cos I’m too proud to call“

Adeline Hotel – Near You

“Sleep better tonight
In the heat of red moon light
Whatever we are, whatever we’ll be
I used to live near you, you used to love near me“

Simon Balto – Foothills

“I’ve never been a faithful man
I’ve always been too proud to pray
But won’t you come out to the foothills
And hold me together for one more day“

Cloud Cult – No Hell

“There’s no use in running unless you run like heck
The best things we’ve learned we learned from the wreck
Jesus coming back as a woman this time
Handing out hugs in the clinic line
Someone tell the devil we don’t need no hell
We’re all pretty good at beating up ourselves“

Slingshot Dakota – Break

“And in the end there’s two of us
it was always two of us“

Good Good Blood – No Sadness/Furrowed Brow

“We’ll have no sadness/furrowed brow
There is no shame in dying now
I said from my death bed“

Ben Seretan – Bowl of Plums

“My friends call me when they’re feeling low
We talk quietly for hours and walk the room
Flowers growing in a coffee can
Our lives are wonderful and sad sometimes“

Chris Bathgate – Big Ghost

“I got a Big Ghost
of static in my throat
from coming up too short“

Wintersleep – Metropolis

“The man that you are, the man you were, the man you left
Turn into stars, flowing in through the wilderness“

Mothers – Lockjaw

“I don’t want your kind words
I want your ghost inside a thimble“

Car Seat Headrest – Drunk Driver / Killer Whales

“You build yourself up against others’ feelings
And it left you feeling empty as a car coasting downhill
I have become such a negative person
It was all just an act
It was all so easily stripped away“

Space Mountain – Never Lonely

“Met a friend today
And im feeling okay
She’s in my head
I’m never lonely“

Hallelujah the Hills – What Do the People Want?

“What do the people want?
The people don’t know what they want“

Mount Moriah – Calvander

“Carry on and on and on on
With your cosmic reach
Newport river whispered fate
Spells cast with every crashing wave
Neon lines and a new name“

Frederick Squire – Bike Thief

“The lights are on
And we are sinking way down in our chairs
We don’t say much of anything
Even though there’s still a lot to say“

Kevin Morby – We’ve Been Here Before

“Running my mouth off at the storm
Yelling, “man, what the hell did you do that for?“

Sam Moss – Vertebrae

“Did you watch my vertebrae
Slendering out
Or did you watch your own?
Stretching skin over the bone
I’ve grown
Learning to be proud“

Arlo Aldo – House & Home

“O’er the mountains out past the trees
where the grasslands, meet the sky
you’ll find me singin’ my songs
with my lover in my mind“

Will Johnson – Nervousness Fangs

“Jesus what a mess
what they’re all selling
and what’s being sold“

Jeremy Squires – After All

“There’s an old painting of Jesus on a wall
and a tapestry that hangs by a cross
that weighs heavy on my shoulders now and then
I get caught up with why the things we love ain’t never last“

The Dead Tongues – Stained Glass Eyes

“Fifth wind brought a howl got me in a storm
I saw a lighthouse spinning at the edge of the world
like looking through a window to the day
I was born“

Kyle Morton – Automatic

“It’s my head, it’s my head
breaking itself to make a thought but instead
Just some pornographic images to stave off my death
It’s all automatic“

Keaton Henson – Alright

“Obviously
My wounds are open to see
But don’t take them seriously
I’ll be fine“

Talons’ – Work Stories

“Is this what the end of the world looks like?
Or is this just life?“

Jordan O’Jordan – A Lonely Road

“There are truths we may or may never know friend
and that is the point“

Mal Devisa – Sea of Limbs

“Honey-lover
keeper of the bees
Soft-spoken
seldom-seen“

Young Jesus – Hinges

“I’m pretty sure I’m a kind of collection of things
scattered throughout the backyard
under the moon
pulling weirdo slow dance moves
maybe always losing it a little
i am ashamed to believe in myself!“

Lung Cycles – For a While

“I feel like sharing
so I’ll press record
and I’ll tell you that I had a vision“

Sister Grotto – UNCANNY

“When we go, we go alone“

John K. Samson – Virtute At Rest

“You should know I am with you, know I forgive you
Know I am proud of the steps that you’ve made
Know it will never be easy or simple
Know I will dig in my claws when you stray“

If you missed it, you can see the list of our favourite albums of 2016 here, and stay tuned for our collection of the best name-your-price releases on Bandcamp next week.

The post Wake the Deaf’s Favourite Songs of 2016 appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:

1. Staying in Line – Un Blonde
2. Skinned Knees – Soccer Mommy
3. Dream Wave – Tiny Ruins
4. No Sadness/Furrowed Brow – Good Good Blood
5. Pain – LVL UP
6. Theory Wars – Pop Weirdos
7. Crab Line – Trust Fund
8. Heaven’s Gate – Ghost Camp
9. Holy Ghost – Deer Scout
10. Desert Blues – Nassau
11. Okkervil River R.I.P. – Okkervil River
12. Housemouse – Wyndwood
13. Smash – Varsity
14. Raised By Wolves – Eternals
15. Starting Again – Lisa Prank
16. Feel You – Pat Moon
17. Nothing – Naps
18. Everywhere A Man Can Be (Teaser) – Zachary Lucky
19. Mailbox – Alexandra Gordon
20. Ditmars – Rainwater
21. You Are on the Water – Ben Seretan
22. Pinesol – Fern Mayo

You can check out the previous monthly roundups here, and our various other playlists and mixtapes here. Thanks as always for getting us through another month. Here’s to a good August!

The post July 2016 Roundup: A Mixtape appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The song is the sort of lushly beautiful folk that we’ve come to expect from Tiny Ruins. Its about drifting minds, inspired by a friend who grew up so close to a beach that the ocean was always calling, especially when stuck in a high school classroom.

“Always a dream wave
drawing you off track,
a dream wave
a coast calls you back”

The b-side is an instrumental version of the song, a track that somehow manages to resonate with even more poetry than the original, despite its wordless nature.

You can get ‘Dream Wave’ now on 7″ vinyl from Bella Union (worldwide), Flying Nun (NZ) and Spunk! Records (Aus). You can also read Lynch interviewing Fullbrook over at Faster Louder.

Photo credit: Georgie Craw

The post Tiny Ruins release new single, Dream Wave appeared first on Various Small Flames.

The album’s title is a direct reference to this period in Stratton’s life (the Twin Peaks reference a result of repeated bed-ridden viewings during his recovery). The Gray Lodge represents a midway point between the White and Black Lodges which serve as epicentres of good and evil in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. “What struck me about what I was going through was that all the notions of good and bad and pain and pleasure, darkness and lightness, were all gone,” he says. “They no longer made any sense to me because my frame of reference was completely different. The Gray Lodge was the hospital for me, and the Northwest in general―this really gray, dark, rainy place where I was going to heal. The album title is about coming out of that experience feeling a bit wiser than I was before.”

Musically, Gray Lodge Wisdom is a worthy addition to Stratton’s impressive canon. His finger picked guitar and beautiful string arrangements are present, as are his woderfully eloquent lyrics. The album also contains some very nice guest appearances. Tamara Lindeman (aka The Weather Station) provides a guest verse on the title track, and Hollie Fullbrook (Tiny Ruins) sings on ‘The Arrow Darkens’. The sound is subtle, gentle and reflective, not mournful nor angry or jubilant.

But the legacy of the album is its impact on Stratton’s attitude towards his disease. This is not an album based entirely on the pain and suffering of that period of his life. Rather it is a portrait of a young man feeling his way into the world. Yes his disease has left an indelible mark on him, but he refuses to be defined by the disease alone, and is now attempting to hang on to the positive effects it had on him. “I feel like I have to choose the things to hold onto that I want to remember and that I want to continue to make a part of who I am,” he explains. “Coming out on the other side of this and having an immense feeling of gratitude is a pretty powerful thing.” The album is one of acceptance: a recognition that suffering and death are part of life, and a conviction that these things should not define our existence.

“Why sing about death when I almost died? Why sing about life when I’m still alive?”

You can buy Gray Lodge Wisdom right now via French label Talitres

P.S. You can still get If You Wait Long Enough the excellent benefit album that was put together to help Stratton pay his medical bills.

The post Will Stratton – Gray Lodge Wisdom appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Huck Notari

Earlier this year Portland’s Huck Notari completed a successful Kickstarter campaign for his third album, Huck Notari and the River. Now released, the LP does not disappoint with Notari’s trademark wistful strumming and stirring lyrics. If you are new to the artist, check out ’Wall Around Your Heart’, one of my favourite songs.

Tiny Ruins

Haunts is the latest EP from Auckland’s Hollie Fullbrook, AKA Tiny Ruins. This is organic music, with simpe instrumentation supporting the main attraction – Fullbrook’s incredible vocals. It feels like she is singing in an empty room for you alone, her voice filling the space and bringing to life the tales she is telling.

Old Haunt

An offshoot of The Gertrudes, Old Haunt is a haunting blend of traditional folk and more experimental genres like electronic and drone. Herohill’s write-up states that front man Lucas Huang described the project as ‘Tim Hecker unearthing a box of Townes van Zandt demos’, which makes us very excited for the full album coming this November.

&lt;a href=“http://oldhaunt.bandcamp.com/track/ghost-town” data-mce-href=“http://oldhaunt.bandcamp.com/track/ghost-town”&gt;Ghost Town by Old Haunt&lt;/a&gt;

Jason Isbell

Southeasten, the new album from the former Drive-By Truckers man, is an exceptional collection of songs. Listen to a few of them here thanks to Garden and Gun (kudos to Songsfortheday for the find).

Suntrapp

The press release accompanying the first single by Newcastle’s Suntrapp states that it intends to capture the human conditions, being ’impulsive, celebratory and cathartic in equal measure’. I think this is a perfect summation of what indie-folk-rock (or whatever) should be all about.

Glass Cake

Glass Cake aren’t particularly folky but the idea behind this series was to let us post about more good music, not constrict ourselves with rules. Lunar Caustic is like a Sharon van Etten x Twin Sister x Scout Niblett hybrid playing a raucous garage rock. It’s great.

Ben De La Cour

Ben De La Cour is a singer-songwriter based in Nashville. He has recently released his third album, Ghost Light, a really nice collection of acoustic folk songs and some country rockers. I’ve seen comparisons to Leonard Cohen and Townes van Zandt and I think these are fair. He certainly has the pedigree to be considered an oldtime-style wandering man, having travelled the world as an amateur boxer, a bartender, a janitor and farm worker. You can download the album for however much you like over at Ben’s bandcamp page.

Wes Tirey

We have featured Wes a few times recently, with a review of his EP I Stood Among Trees, and last week’s interview about his music and writing, and he has a new 3-song EP out now. False Idols is another collection of superbly written earthy songs from some old vision of America and is available for as little as $1. All funds will go towards Wes’ Indiegogo campaign to get him to Italy.

We’ll be seeing you next month.

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