After cutting his teeth as the frontman of an angst-rock band for a few years, Tiny Eyes auteur Joel Evans met his partner (singer/songwriter Martha Bean) and found himself mellowing out. Feeling disconnected from the angst-ridden world of thrashing guitars his band drifted apart. It was around that time that he’d acquired an upright piano from the 1920’s. Taking to the instrument like a bird to flight, he quickly found a new musical voice and tonality that harmonised with his maturing tastes. Tiny Eyes is a one-man band from Leicester, a singer and producer who’s reared himself on the understated elegance of lovelorn balladeers from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. By turns evoking Lennon, Tom Waits, Elliot Smith, Flaming Lips and Tobias Jesso Jr, Tiny Eyes is a brilliant and unique new sound. He is a narrative songwriter in the classic sense, employing clever turns of phrase and vivid imagery to weave imaginatively fertile and provocative yarns into his music.
Tiny Eyes’ self-titled EP is his first major solo outing and it’s a resoundingly consistent and accomplished effort. Fitting nicely into the space that Tobias Jesso Jr re-opened for candid retro piano pop, Tiny Eyes is a heavy-lidded reverie through the mind of its maker. Heartfelt melodies entwine languorously with artful rhymes and psychedelic production to make a dream tapestry that’s on the one hand maximal and immersive, and on the other considered and spacious. Fuelled by a literary eye for juxtaposition and imagism, the stories on this EP move through tales of the morning after the night before (‘Fifteen Feet Of Snow’) to creativity itself (‘Golden Thread) via meditations on love and selfhood (‘Falling’ and ‘Tiny Eyes’). For a first effort Tiny Eyes is the sound of an artist already arriving fully-formed and with a clear and unified vision of the creative road ahead.
So many of my favourite artists – from The Flaming Lips to The Beatles – seem to have this understated, casual way with lyrics. They aren’t constantly trying to hit you with the emotional sledgehammer. I wanted to carry on that more subtle approach to songwriting. Opening the EP, a Lennon-like vocal lilt and vivid poignant imagery abounds throughout ‘Falling’. Coloured with Tiny Eyes’ tender backing and concise arrangement, the song is a sophisticated nod to the ingenuous lyrical prowess of his heroes. The accompanying video is exemplary of the DIY ethos Tiny Eyes employs in every aspect of his artistry. Comprised of two layers superimposed on each other and shot almost wholly on an iPhone (half the footage through rave glasses), it’s a homemade psychedelic visual accompaniment to the lo-fi retro pop universe that Tiny Eyes creates through his expansive songwriting.
Tiny Eyes: Falling
Tiny Eyes: Falling Lyrics:
Girl Asleep on my bed
Still in your shoes
Dressed like an accident scene
With your hair tangled and wild
Framed by the moonlight
So soft and serene
You said You don’t make promises to anyone
You don’t make promises, but
In the morning
When the birds ring out their hearts
In a dawn symphony
And I’m falling
And I’m falling into you
Will you fall into me
Fall into me
We Drove home late
Stopped at the red light
You turned round to kiss me and let
Go of the brakes
We lurched and you laughed
And we’re always so dangerously close, but
You don’t want belongingness to anyone
You don’t want belongingness
In the morning
When the birds ring out their hearts
In a dawn symphony
And I’m falling
And I’m falling into you
Will you fall into me
Fall into me
Fall into me
In the morning
When the birds ring out their hearts
In a dawn symphony
And I’m falling
And I’m falling into you
Will you fall into me
Fall into me
