Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Tinyfish
Label: Lazy Gun Records
Released: 2006
Length: 47:14
Rating: 3.5/5
The mischievous Londoners Tinyfish, who in typical English, slightly daft fashion have described themselves as ‘the smallest prog rock band in the world’, have their roots in the neo-prog outfit Freefall, which was made up of brothers Simon and Jem Godfrey and their friends Jim Sanders and Paul Worwood. Through the eighties they mostly played as the support act for more established neo-prog bands, mainly covering seventies prog artists. At the start of the nineties the Freefall story came to an end, as Jem Godfrey chose to go solo and also became a successful producer and the founder of the art rock band Frost*.
The remaining trio kept playing together in various musical projects until 2004, when they decided to return to their prog rock roots under the name Tinyfish, bringing Rob Ramsey on board too. He had a rather unusual role in the band: he was in charge of writing the lyrics and the spoken word, and every now and then he stepped into the role of a musician and picked up the harmonica.
In this lineup, Tinyfish recorded their self-titled debut in 2006, released on the small, independent label Lazy Gun Records. In shaping their sonic approach on the debut, which was a very solid, extremely listenable and tastefully modern art rock effort, Tinyfish managed to blend certain neo-prog finesse from the Freefall era with a modern approach and production, putting most of their energy into building varied atmospheres. They can also pride themselves on having a distinctive enough sound that they can’t be lumped in with those prog revivalists who remind you of some legendary seventies prog band at almost every turn. Pink Floyd are still the most obvious influence on Tinyfish’s sonic vocabulary, and even that shows up mostly in the guitar technique. Godfrey also played all the drums on the album, since Tinyfish only got a proper drummer in 2010, when live drummer Leon Camfield became an official member.
Most of the songs on »Tinyfish« have a compact structure and melodic arrangements with lovely vocal harmonies, so there’s practically no trace of complexity, which goes even for »All Hands Lost«, the album’s only prog epic at just over twelve minutes. Ranseyʼs narration in between is just short and witty enough that it doesn’t come across as intrusive or distracting in the transitions into the individual »Tinyfish« songs. The members of Tinyfish aren’t exactly virtuosos, but that makes them all the more interesting as songwriters and arrangers, while Simon’s vocals are emotionally rich enough that every song comes alive with its own atmospheric stamp. Simon and Jim Sanders played all the guitar lines well, while their guitar synth textures don’t hide the occasional symphonic prog and space rock influences.
The opening track »Motorville« starts with a short narration that carries a hefty gallon of English black humor, followed by a shift into an atmospherically rich instrumental section with melancholic guitar passages. They lack a bit of finesse to really hit with full force, as at times they sound too cold, but the central arrangement comes across all the more convincingly. Godfrey’s vocals, meanwhile, are melodic and varied enough to appeal to fans of pop rock and alternative too.
The ballad »Fly Like A Bird«, packed with a string of subtle guitar chords, is steeped in classic British melos, while the vocal harmonies are sung just the way they should be. The short funky improvisations and the brief but emotional guitar solo come across as the most complex bits. »Nine Months On Fire«, which blends elements of hard rock, folk, space rock and alternative rock, has just the right dose of pomp and subtlety. »Too High For Low Company«, after a short, dissonant-experimental intro, slips into a subtle section with minimalist guitar lines, followed by repeated swings into punchy territory. It’s interesting how ‘modern’ alt rock Simon’s vocal tone sounds in the heavier sections, while in the calmer moments it comes out completely different.
»All Of The People, All Of The Time« is a short, narrative bit of joking around with a manipulatively spiced-up phone call. »Build Your Own Enemy« is one of the most atmospherically interesting moments on »Tinyfish«, with minimalist harmonies between acoustic guitar and synths, while Simon’s vocals, amid symphonic curtains, come across as the best on the whole album. Here Tinyfish manage to build an emotive chorus for the first time, and the melancholic guitar improvisation is far from out of place either. With its spirited guitar passages and dynamic drum transitions, »God Eat God« is again closer to pop than prog, which would be even more obvious if it weren’t for a decent guitar solo at the end. »Sundried« is a short but interesting experiment with baroque-flavored string arrangements, while Simon’s vocals play the key role in creating a hypnotic melody.
»All Hands Lost«, at just over twelve minutes, has the most dynamic structure of all the songs on »Tinyfish«. It’s still far from anything especially complex, but it’s a pretty good approximation of a light-hued yet atmospherically rich prog epic. The ballad intro eventually makes room for an interesting guitar solo and minimalist symphonic textures. Next comes a sudden jump into a punchy, hard rock section with raging guitar passages and decisive drum transitions, while Simon once again proves his vocal versatility. The closing part comes across as almost epic. The title track, an instrumental-narrative piece, is with its space rock nature one of the more original and interesting moments on this very solid album.
With their debut, Tinyfish haven’t made anything especially thrilling or even innovative, but they’ve delivered an exceptionally listenable, stylistically varied, atmospherically rich and melodic art rock record. It’s interesting even for some less demanding fans of contemporary experimental music, and for anyone who doesn’t see genre boundaries as some insurmountable obstacle. So these London art rock veterans announced right from the start that they deserve the attention of followers of the contemporary prog scene in the years to come, since they still have a huge amount of untapped potential. With their next releases they probably won’t remain ‘the smallest prog rock band in the world’, as they like to call themselves, for very long.
Line-up
Simon Godfrey – vocals, guitar, guitar synth, drums
Jim Sanders – guitar, guitar synth, backing vocals
Paul Worwood – bass guitar, bass pedals
Rob Ramsay – spoken word, harmonica, lyrics
Production
Tinyfish
Track list
1. Motorville (4:54)
2. Fly Like A bird (4:11)
3. Nine Months On Fire (5:46)
4. Too High For Low Company (4:15)
5. All Of The People, All Of The Time (1:22)
6. Build Your Own Enemy (5:16)
7. God Eat God (3:12)
8. Sundried (1;56)
9. All Hands Lost (12:26)
10. Tinyfish (3:56)
