Songs For Refuge

Tiny Ruins, Hopetoun Brown, Sal Valentine and the Babyshakes come together to raise funds in support of Auckland Women's Refuge.

Tiny Ruins
Formed as a solo project in 2009 by songwriter Hollie Fullbrook, the band now includes bassist Cass Basil and drummer Alexander Freer. While continuing to be based in their native New Zealand, Tiny Ruins has spent much of the past three years touring throughout Australia, Europe & the US, opening for artists such as Beach House, Joanna Newsom, Fleet Foxes, Father John Misty, The Handsome Family and Calexico.

Lyrically ambiguous and poignant, the songs roughly follow in the traditions of folk and blues that Fullbrook has drawn on in the past, engaging moods both hopeful and world-weary. Yet there is more of an expansive approach to this album - where debut Some Were Meant for Sea presented a host of characterful vignettes, Brightly Painted One follows a journey, cyclical and whole, with tones falling between dream pop and folk-blues.

Sal Valentine and the Babyshakes
A vehicle put together exclusively to perform their lead singer's heart-on-sleeve, singular, aggressive and entirely original material, 'Sal Valentine and The Babyshakes' are an ensemble steeped in the tradition and timbre of rhythm 'n' blues who currently enjoy a modern, genre bending freedom many bands only dream of.

Widely regarding as one of the finest acts in the country, 'Sal Valentine and The Babyshakes' is populated by ten accomplished musicians from as diverse a selection of backgrounds as one could hope for - Pop, Hip-hop, Jazz, Punk, Classical, Hard Rock. The band format is modelled on the early ensembles fronted by Ray Charles: Two female singers and Valentine sharing lead duties and lush harmonies, with support from a roaring quartet of horns and an aggressive, organic rhythm section featuring double bass, piano/organ and drums.

Hopetoun Brown
By day they're the Supergroove horn section. By night they stalk the streets, their antique wind instruments shrieking wildly.

Often playing without amplification the pair measure each bar like a lumberjack aims his axe. Nick Atkinson's big clarinet supports Tim Stewart's heavy trumpet tone, a sound hefty enough to bend a bough. Boots stomp and the crowd hollers as Stewart's powerful voice soulfully bellows out hits like Demanding Blues and Road Runner Rocks.