Tiny Ruins is another of our local female singer/songwriters, along the lines of Nadia Reid and Aldous Harding. I had heard of her, again via the Counting The Beat Podcast, but hadn't really heard her music. She did come fairly well recommended and so I though I'd head along to Blue Smoke and check her out. The tour was kinda in support of a new album that is still being finished as we speak and several new songs were played this night, not that I would tell as I was not at all familiar with her work. I did have a listen to some of her more recent stuff on Bandcamp before I left the house and to be honest I wasn't all that taken with her music on first listen and started to have doubts about going, but I already had purchased a ticket so didn't want to waste it.
Got to Blue Smoke about a half hour before the support act and the place was already mostly full. Unfortunately for these more laid back gigs, the venue leaves the tables spread around the floor and have a couch up near the front of the stage, I don't like this for gigs as it places too many objects in the way of standing space. It would be better if they either made it a sit down gig with more tables and seats for all or (for bigger numbers) just remove all the tables and seating near the stage end of the venue.
My back, for some reason this night, decided to start making me uncomfortable as I stood with my drink and waited for the support act. There was no familiar faces at this gig for me tonight.
The support act was going under the name Reb Fountain. She was solo with acoustic guitar playing a folksy type of music as you do with that setup. She had a nice voice and the songs were enjoyable enough. It also turns out that She was a member of The Ravens and also The Eastern, both of whom I had seen at Blue Smoke several weeks back. I didn't recognize her though being back in the crowd a bit.
My back was becoming less comfortable as I waited for Tiny Ruins to hit the stage and the wait wasn't too long as she kicked off her set with a solo acoustic number before adding a bass player and drummer for the next song and finally an electric guitarist for the third number, thus completing the band. It's kinda hard to describe the music but it was soft and laid back and I liked the occasional combination of the twin vocal melodies of Tiny and her female bass player, but overall I was really uninspired buy her set and got quite bored. The songs all sounded a bit the same and the band didn't sound all that tight, especially the electric guitar which seemed out of place at times. The gig was supposed to finish at 10:30pm but as usual the acts started a bit later than advertised and so were going to go over that time a bit but as 10:30 chimed, I had had enough, the physical discomfort and just not at all getting into the music I was hearing was enough to force me to leave the venue early.
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