Monday, January 30, 2006

Tiny

And lo! the archangel Gabriel appeared to me in a dream and said "Patroclus, in 2006 thou shalt champion obscure Scandinavian bands".

Actually I had a a bit of a head start on the angel of the Annunciation, because I spent a fair amount of time in 2005 wibbling on about Finnish folktronica outfit Husky Rescue - to the extent that a friend of a friend of mine apparently bought not one but TWO copies of their (quite fabulous) Country Falls album, which makes me very happy.

But that was just the warm-up, and it's 2006 now, and I have my work cut out. So I feel I should commence the proceedings by bringing to your attention the work of The Tiny, whose album Close Enough has apparently been around since 2004, but it's only been on my desk since this morning.

A cursory skip round the internet tells me that The Tiny mainly get compared with Portishead*, but that's not really right. Although they do sound a bit like how her from Portishead would sound if she had a Swedish accent and sang a bit more like her from Tori Amos. Accompanied by a cello and a double bass. On some quite lovely and slightly otherworldly songs about floating in the middle of lakes and falling in love with people when you haven't had any sleep.

The whole album is a bit all too much of the same sort of thing, but if you're planning any romantic encounters in the vicinity of your stereo this year, then "Closer" and "Lake" should help you along no end. Don't say I don't give you all the best tips.


* Unless you're reading the unutterably pretentious Stylus Magazine, which prefers to make unfavourable comparisons with Bjork (whose stupid squeaky pixie voice I detest) and Joanna Newsom (ditto). Mind you, it's probably quite difficult to hear properly when you're that far up your own arse.

7 comments:

Dave said...

Well, thank you for that. As your link cunningly took me to my own Amazon site, I've added it to my wish list.

If only they also included the opportunity to add 'romantic interlude next to stereo' to the list too..

Unknown said...

And the Isle of Wight was....?

patroclus said...

Ah yes, sorry M. I never look back, me. Isle of Wight was much fun, but not all that handily located for West London, as it turns out. Especially if you set off an hour late with no money and no cashcard. Take note, travellers.

There were some quite stunning views of your neck of the woods from Bembridge, though, Merkin. I forgot to look out for that fancy tower, though.

surly girl said...

i'm not allowed to visit merkin from work any more as he's gone all rude and made webmarshal bristle (since yesterday). at this rate i'll be expected to work for a living, or something.

oh yeah, my point...

i wish i was the sort of person that might like wafty scandinavian music about lakes and trees and moomins but i'm not, sadly. i like shouty guitar music about beer, and having fights, and making love to improbably beautiful women (surely the seventies weren't that glamorous?) and things.

still, each to their own and all that.

patroclus said...

>>i like shouty guitar music about beer, and having fights, and making love to improbably beautiful women<<

Oh, I like that kind of music too. In fact I think the Dead Kennedys "Too Drunk to Fuck" encapsulates those sentiments rather well. All in the first line, too. Well, the beer and fighting aspects anyway.

I'm quite disappointed my blog has passed the web filter. Perhaps I should be a bit ruder?

Betty said...

Oh I'm with you on Stylus Magazine, and hate their smugly superior review of the great Arctic Monkeys album which slags them off for appealing to 14-18 year olds, as if that's a crime. Mind you, Mike Atkinson of the excellent Troubled Diva writes singles reviews there, so it's not all bad ...

Stef the engineer said...

Wasn't the last lady chosen by angels to champion a cause burnt at the stake after winning some battles against the English?