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Tiny Ruins

Biography

Tiny Ruins are an indie folk ensemble from Auckland, New Zealand, founded in 2009. The project began as a solo alias for Bristol-born singer-songwriter Hollie Fullbrook, who was born in 1985 and moved to New Zealand at the age of ten when her father accepted a job in Auckland. Raised on The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Tanita Tikaram, Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch, Fullbrook began learning the cello at seven and played it seriously into her late teens. Over time the project evolved into a full four-piece band with Cass Basil on bass, Alex Freer on drums, and Tom Healy on guitar, developing a sound that AudioCulture has described as “folk-psych.” Fullbrook recorded an EP with singer-songwriter Lieven Scheerlink in 2010 under the Tiny Ruins name and toured Europe for the first time with him and Ana Franco from Coffee & Wine. The debut full-length album, Some Were Meant for Sea, followed in 2011 on Spunk Records, peaking at number 35 on the New Zealand charts. Off the back of that release, Fullbrook opened for Fleet Foxes and toured internationally with Calexico and Beach House, establishing Tiny Ruins as a name beyond New Zealand’s borders. After adding Cass Basil and Alexander Freer to the lineup, Tiny Ruins recorded their second album, Brightly Painted One, released in May 2014 on Flying Nun Records and Spunk. The record reached number 19 on the New Zealand charts and won Best Alternative Album at the New Zealand Music Awards in November 2014. Guitarist Tom Healy and violinist Siobhanne Thompson performed on the album and appeared with the group on subsequent tours. The Haunts EP had preceded it in 2013, and the single “Me at the Museum, You in the Wintergardens” was drawn from the album campaign.
“Evolving from a solo project by Hollie Fullbrook, Tiny Ruins has gained local and international accolades and flourished to become a robust, folk-psych four-piece.” — Laura Robinson, AudioCulture, 26 Nov 2020
In 2015, Fullbrook collaborated with Hamish Kilgour and drummer Gary Hunt for the mini album/EP Hurtling Through, released on Bella Union and Flying Nun. The record drew partly on Fullbrook’s long-held affinity with W. B. Yeats’ poem ‘The Song of Wandering Aengus’, which she had first encountered in third-form English class and knew through Irish folk singer Christy Moore’s version from her parents’ record collection. The band’s third studio album, Olympic Girls, arrived in February 2019 on Ursa Minor, Milk! Records, Marathon Artists and Ba Da Bing!, reaching number 11 on the New Zealand charts. The title was partly inspired by a conversation Fullbrook had on a Greyhound bus during her gap year, with a man recently released from prison who spoke about watching Olympic gymnastics as one of the only ways of experiencing freedom. Throughout their career, Tiny Ruins have collaborated with a wide range of artists including Bic Runga, Hamish Kilgour, The Phoenix Foundation, and US filmmaker and producer David Lynch. Their fourth studio album, Ceremony, was released on 28 April 2023 on Ursa Minor, Milk! and Marathon Artists, debuting at number 9 on the New Zealand charts. All four Tiny Ruins studio albums have been shortlisted for the Taite Music Prize.
“All four Tiny Ruins albums have been shortlisted for the Taite Music Prize.” — Wikipedia: Tiny Ruins

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