Tiny Moth – Tiny Moth EP

In the vast sea of modern rock artists, projects, and bands, only a few are capable of balancing melody and aggression with such precision and finesse. Tiny Moth, a London-based music outlet founded by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Doug Rimington, expertly channels those qualities, delivering fresh, unique, and innovative music that will resonate not only with fans of modern rock music but also with anyone who appreciates profound songwriting, clever arrangements, and superb musicianship. In collaboration with Jess, an exceptional vocalist and songwriter who helped out with writing lyrics for three songs on this material, Tiny Moth delivers an exceptional release that will immediately grab you by the collar and refuse to let go long after the song ends. Lyrically, this debut extended play explores various sentiments, moods, situations, and circumstances. It’s a highly relatable, emotionally charged set of songs that will immediately resonate with the broader audience. Sonically, perhaps Tiny Moth explores modern rock sound to illustrate luxuriant sonic imagery, but you’ll also notice how some other styles found their place in this sonic equation. There are vital qualities of alternative rock, art rock, post-hardcore, metalcore, post-metal, and post-rock lurking around, and each new listen reveals more tiny details, nuances, accentuations, and other hidden gems. Doug Rimington uses all these additional elements as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to uplift his music to an entirely new level while simultaneously remaining loyal to the primary sonic direction. Perhaps Tiny Moth’s music carries qualities of all those trends in modern music production, you’ll notice a subtle touch of nostalgia spicing things up and giving more depth to these songs. Therefore, these experiments with various styles, techniques, and approaches resulted in a catchy, memorable, engaging material suitable for even the pickiest listeners.

This epic sonic journey commences with “Look At Me,” a perfect introductory piece that vividly showcases what you might expect from the remainder of this extended play. The song gradually reveals fascinating vocal harmonies and flawlessly performed and perfectly recorded instrumentations. You’ll notice how this track arrives as a calm, soothing, relaxing, ethereal, otherworldly soundscape, but slowly becomes a colossal, harmonious slab of lush synth ambiance, excellent riffs, robust basslines, and intricate rhythmic patterns. Jess contributes emotion and depth through her incredible vocal performance, making “Look At Me” worth spinning over and over again. Tiny Moth strikes even harder with “Break Down The Wall,” a heavy yet melodic song that resonates with tremendous power that could easily tear down the walls. The interplay between lead and rhythm guitars creates a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. You’ll hear how reverby themes shine on one side while the other brings rawness, abrasiveness, grittiness through excellent, downtuned riffs. The bass guitar immensely supports these guitar works by rumbling beneath. However, here equally impressive low-ends are vividly hearable in the mix, bringing more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth while binding all the guitar works with drumming performance. Everything sounds so well-incorporated, so a pleasant listening experience is more than guaranteed. “Your Rage” showcases Jess’s incredible vocal range. Her soulful, passionate, sincere, confident, emotional, powerful vocal performance elevates everything to new heights, commands attention, and guides the listening apparatus from scratch to finish. She emphasizes all those segments and instrumentations by balancing low, mid, and high notes with such precision. Besides clean singing, there are also raw, fierce screams and shouts that bring more emotional depth and complexity to an already intricate song structure. Also, it’s good to mention there are also additional vocal layers, back vocals, and sing-alongs, implemented for a more abstract, ethereal feel.

Doug Rimington’s songwriting and musicianship are notable throughout the entire material. With the interlude and a self-titled track, he crafted a perfect closure of this mindblowing EP. These are the moments where Tiny Moth shines the most, with all those calm, pulsating, hypnotic, addictive, irresistible soundscapes presented during the “Interlude.” They prepare the listener for a self-titled track that sounds so glorious, colossal, majestic. These are the moments where impressive melodies, harmonies, and themes clash with a wall built upon marvelously assembled chord progressions and riffs. There’s a delicate yet hearable warmth delivered through another collection of basslines, a standout feature that defines guitar works even more. Doug’s drumming is jaw-dropping as usual. Another barrage of rhythmic patterns based upon tastefully arranged, expertly performed, well-accentuated beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics keeps the remainder of the instrumentation in line while dictating groove and pace. These sequences become even more complex as the song approaches the end. It brings more heaviness and power to all those guitar and bass works. Every instrument has its place and purpose in this sonic equation. This self-titled track is such a perfect closure that immediately forces you to spin the entire extended play over again.

YTiny Moth crafted a fresh, unique, fascinating modern alternative rock release that vividly demonstrates Jess’s impressive vocal abilities and Doug’s mindblowing songwriting and musicianship. Their collective knowledge, experience, creativity, talent, skills, and ideas are on full display here, and you should immediately put this self-titled EP on your music radar if you’re a fan of alternative rock, post hardcore, post metal, or metalcore music. It’s available on all streaming platforms. Don’t miss it!