Track Listing

1. Kind Of Like You
2. My Mother
3. Know Your Demons
4. Everything Is Fine
5. Dirty Frames
6. Sorry
7. I Don't Like (The Way You Move Me)
8. In Reality
9. My Greatest Fear
10. They Say It's Weird
11. The One's For Mr. Smith
12. Safe Than Sorry

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #293606 in Music
• Released on: 2007-01-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced

Album Description
This Swedish trio made their US debut in 2005 with the domestic release of "Close Enough", a record created from the combo's use of only piano, upright bass, and cello. When it was time for their second record, they explored making a sound true to life in a cinematic way, taking each idea to a new level while still keeping their tiny personal identity. This release creates an entirely new world both grandiose and simple, and undoubtedly unique. For fans of Kate Bush and Regina Spektor.

Customer Reviews

Tiny changes
The Tiny's debut was a good-but-not-great one -- spare, quirky music made with only a few instruments, and Ellekari Larsson's weird little voice. But somehow, it fell short.

Such is fortunately not the case with "Starring: Someone Like You," a more polished and fleshed-out second album that shows the band's musical growth. It's a weird, enticing little collection of chilly Swedish pop tunes -- quite nice.

It opens with the echoing, chilly sound of "Kind of Like You," which is basically Larsson singing wistfully over a set of icy xylophones. "You wandered far too long/and I don't suppose that/you found what you've become," she croons. "I'd like to see you smile/then maybe you can drive..."

That's followed up by a swooning classical pop tune in "My Mother," and experimenting with as many styles as they can cram into their limited instrumentation: eerie choral pop about demons, quirky cello music, swirlingly ominous pop, shimmering little wispy balladry, haunting little chiming tunes, somnolent organs, and finally the bittersweet "Safe Than Sorry."

The Tiny is one of those bands that is hard to describe -- if I had to describe it, I'd call it the sound of Regina Spektor forming an anti-pop/anti-folk/anti-classical/anti-jazz band. Just quirky enough, but not too much.

What makes this so much better than the Tiny's first album is that their sound is much broader, lusher and more exquisite than before. Before, it was more minimalist -- now it's full blown indiepop. There are basically only three instruments in this band -- cello, double bass, and piano -- and all are played to swirl, soar and wrap around the listeners' ears.

Larsson's childlike voice is a lot like Spektor's as well -- she warbles, croons, and murmurs. And the lyrics she sings are very well-written as well: "Don't you dare to/let him paint your picture/and you'll... become... the fool," she sings ominously. "She's standing beside you/not aware/that you don't even care..."

The Tiny improve on their good-but-not-great debut, with the sumptuous, chilly pop of "Starring: Someone Like You." Quirky and sweet.

A very good album with a must-own single
This is a very good album that contains one of the greatest covers I've ever heard. I first heard "Everything Is Free" on Gillian Welch's TIME (THE REVELATOR). Welch did a find job on her composition, but I have to confess that the song didn't absolutely blow me away. When I first heard The Tiny do their version on STARRING SOMEONE LIKE YOU I couldn't quite place where I'd heard it before, their cover was so different. Though there are few better singers in the world than Gillian Welch, Ellekari Larsson imbues the song with a melancholy Welch simply isn't capable of. The rest of The Tiny aide Larsson with one of the finest minimalist arrangements you're ever likely to encounter. The result is very nearly overwhelming. Since first getting the album "Everything is Free" has rocketed to the top of my Top 25 Most Played list on my iPod.

Interestingly, the lyrics somewhat undercut the emotional intensity of the music. The song appears to be about file sharing. At least that is how I judge it. Welch writes of her music being free now and the only way I can see how that could be would be file sharing. The song starts off with her somewhat lamenting this, but concludes with the epiphany that she is going to do her music anyway. (My reading is somewhat undercut by the fact that file sharing doesn't harm musicians at all, but only record companies. But I can't come up with an alternative interpretation.) The raw emotion in Larrson's voice, however, would suggest a completely different theme for the song, like the agony of lost love or the loss of a loved one. This is strengthened by the wonderful arrangement, which features a musical saw wailing in the background.

The rest of the album is quite good as well, though "Everything is Free" is so spectacularly good that the rest of the songs suffer by comparison. I love the use of cello and musical saw on the album (in fact, the presence of the latter on the album makes you wonder why it isn't used more often) and Ellekari Larsson is an utterly riveting singer. At times she reminds me of Bjork, but more often of Joanna Newsom, though with a bit more fullness to her voice. I will venture that if you like Newsom, you will like The Tiny; I also suspect that those who dislike Newsome should also probably skip this one. The album would also appeal to those who like Dead Can Dance. This album feels more contemporary than anything by the latter and certainly has none of that group's medieval feel, but it has some of the same theatricality.

I do think that "Everything is Free" is one of those songs that just about everyone ought to own. Even if you don't want to check out the album, please do yourself and download the single.