New Zealand band Tiny Ruins remain true to their dream pop roots in their latest release, “Dorothy Bay.” The song’s mellow vocals and beautifully simple chord progressions emulate the tide of the bay being described. Hollie Fullbrook, the band’s lead singer, has a voice that dances over the notes and relaxes into the story being told. She describes the ebb and flow of the bay’s tides, which reveal the mud underneath ever so often, just to be drawn back out by it’s “strong pull harbour-way.”
Just as Hollie describes the movement of the water, the harmonious instruments move in and out of focus over the course of the track. The bass, consistently thrumming in the background, suddenly becomes the most essential noise guiding the song, just to disappear undearneath layers of instrumentation again. Similarly, the electric guitar unexpectedly pulls forward to release powerful chords that add grit to the song’s entire sound. The pull of the psychedelia sound move the listener gently from verse to chorus and back again, creating a song that imitates the natural wonders of which Hollie so eloquently paints a picture.
Directed by Alexander Gandar, the accompanying video is an epic, psychedelic survey of the southern headland of the Manukau Harbour. It took the small crew and band two days of filming to capture the landscape in all its glory - the results are a buzzy, colour- shifting, dreamlike visual confection. Watch the video here