Tiny Little Houses’ second EP Snow Globe pushes the band’s sonic boundaries, amplifying their trademark sorrow as they venture into darker, more tormented territories via lead singer Caleb Karvountzis’ bleak lyricism.
Opening track Medicate Me is immediately more gritty and fuller sounding than the band’s previous output, with the line “I don’t want to live when you don’t want to stay,” foretelling the rest of the EP’s direction. Title track Snow Globe has Karvountzis intimately addressing the listener with his morose vocal, shifting gear to unveil a fuzz drenched outro that has him unravelling. Song Against Apathy is the most energetic the band has ever sounded but resignation and despair still mar the song’s lyrics. Following on from this, the comparatively stark I Hate That You’re Happy chronicles the heartbreak of seeing an ex move on, with its stripped back arrangement accentuating Karvountzis’ agony.
A surprising cover of the Kasey Chambers classic Not Pretty Enough is reinvented into a noise folk gem that sits perfectly alongside the band’s original songs. The lyrics, full of doubt and misery, could’ve easily been written by Karvountzis himself.
Glimmers of optimism shine through on closing track Lonely People, but at the root of its lyrics Karvountzis is dismissive of romance given his own heartache, sighing “Love is not easy, love is not pure, love is not kind.” After listening to the EP, you can’t help but agree with him.
Never wavering in strength or emotion, each song on Snow Globe holds up on its own, stringing a narrative that injects enough melancholy into the music to become strangely uplifting. While it might be somewhat perverse to seek solace in sad music, Tiny Little Houses make feeling like shit that little bit easier.
BY HOLLY PEREIRA
