Track Premiere: Tiny Little Houses—”Richard Cory”
Posted: by The Editor
Tiny Little Houses are back. The Melbourne, Australia band went on hiatus a couple years ago but now they’re returning with a comeback single called “Richard Cory”, which we’re premiering below.
The band’s 2016 EP Snow Globe is a peppy noise-pop record that sounds like AJJ channeled through LVL Up (I.E. Neutral Milk Hotel). But by 2018, their debut record Idiot Proverbs had a much heavier, grungier feel that’s more akin to U.S. groups like Microwave and Heart Attack Man—but maybe a little more artful than angry. The song “Entitled Generation” is an “OK, boomer” banger that weirdly finds a sweet spot between early Cage The Elephant alt-rock and early Remo Drive emo (just listen to it). That record has a handful of really solid tracks, but this new song, “Richard Cory”, takes the band in the exact direction my ear wants them to head in.
It has a bit of a weepy Midwestern emo lick and a nasally vocal delivery that borrows from Andy Hull’s singing-through-his-teeth style, but by the end it might as well be a Thursday-style post-hardcore song (minus any screams or piercing yelps). The song’s lyrics are a modern reimagining of the poem “Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson; a timeless tale about a man everyone loves who seems to have it all and then suddenly takes his own life, leaving everyone who knew him to wonder who else around them may be struggling internally. Simon & Garfunkel famously wrote their own sing-a-long version of “Richard Cory”, but Tiny Little Houses do a phenomenal job at translating the almost-unbelievable death into screaming guitar sweeps that soar above a crushing breakdown with post-rock grandeur.
It’s quite a musical feat for a three-minute track, and it shows an immense amount of promise from this newly refreshed band. Check it out below:
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Eli Enis | @eli_enis
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