Cleaned the Windows is the second album by London based folk singer Geri van Essen. It’s the follow-up to her pre-war American moody folk blues and gospel album A New Hiding Place, which she self-released in 2018. The ten new songs are more soulful and have matured into an even deeper melancholy. Sonically, she broadened her horizons by working together with Tiny Room Records chief (and musician/producer) Stefan Breuer, who helped arrange the album by adding instruments and polish up the homerecorded sessions by Van Essen. 

Broken microphones, unavailable laptops with GarageBand and someone who spilt talcum powder on the piano (making it unfit for further use) didn’t stop Van Essen to record her guitar, vocals and piano parts by herself in her apartment. Breuer added drums, bass, guitar and a wide range of keys, while her London friends contributed with violin, clarinet, euphonium, electric guitar and trumpet. The traditional folk songs are injected with soul, jangle pop and slowcore, creating a palette with associations as diverse as Portishead, Camera Obscura and Swamp Dogg, alongside the more obvious line of tradition that we have come to know through artists like Aldous Harding and Sibylle Baier.

More info: https://www.tinyroom.nl/artists/geri-van-essen/

I Waved, You Waved

Rotterdam-based folk outfit Ilsha’s debut is a record to comfort those who are sad and weeping.

For the debut of her band Ilsha, songwriter Ilse Hamelink wrote five songs that manage to be both personal and exuberant. Each song is a snapshot of a particular moment in time, capturing the feelings and thoughts of that precise moment in sound. This is also how Ilse lives her life: open to all emotions, while remaining an open book about her doubts and fears. Dive is by no means an ‘easy album’, but the raw, naked core of the songs has been made more bearable by the colorful arrangements added by the band. These layers make listening to the record an enlightening experience instead of a painful one. 

Dive has become an experimental folk album in which you can wonder around. The repetitive vocal lines are soothing and enthralling at the same time. As you wallow in melancholy, you may find yourself floating above the ground. There is a constant light in the darkness of this record, and Ilse’s heavenly voice guides you towards it. The beautiful simplicity of the songs is rooted in nature, where you can be at peace with who you are: barefoot in the grass, immortalizing these special moments in songs; the sorcery of good art. The record’s tension, dynamics, sad emptiness and lush arrangements will muster feelings, and these feelings will simply be welcome. Dive is a record to comfort those who are sad and weeping. 

Dive is the debut by Rotterdam-based band Ilsha. Ilsha is the main musical project of singer and guitarist Ilse Hamelink, who is a music/art/nature therapist in real life. On the record she gets help from a few veterans from the independent music industry, such as Gerrit van der Scheer (Bonne Aparte, Herrek), Aino Vehmasto (The Secret Love Parade), Anna Berkhof and Floyd Atema (Herrek). The record will come out on 12” vinyl with a lovely layered sleeve, released on Tiny Room Records on October 29, 2021.

Order record: https://tinyroomrecords.bandcamp.com/album/dive

Ilsha - Dear Tree

A compilation of foundlings to celebrate 10 years of Tiny Room Records.

Logout - A Friendly Host

The World of Dust - Space Mountain

We are proud to release this special project on the longest night of the year, the winter solstice. Three Friends of Winter is an intercontinental collaboration between Hako (Osaka, Japan), I am Oak, and The World of Dust (both Utrecht, the Netherlands).

Beyond the fact that the song is released by three friends on the first day of winter, Three Friends of Winter is also an art concept inspired by pine, bamboo, and plum. Together, these three symbolize steadfastness, perseverance, and resilience. We are all very happy we finished this recording and are finally putting it out into the world!

The music was composed by Emiko, Stefan, and Thijs. The lyrics were written by Stefan (first part) and Thijs (second part). The single is now available digitally on a platform of your choice, as well as on a limited-edition transparent square 7” (in the Tiny Room Records Bandcamp store).

Three Friends of Winter

Howart - Adore

After the release of Aligned with Juniper (2016), Helen Ferguson withdrew from the writing process for several months. At that point, there was nothing new to say, no new stories to tell. This all changed after a major health breakdown. Following a prescription mistake, Helen found herself in a severe four-day psychotic state filled with paranoia and panic attacks. She realized she was becoming insane. Fortunately, the doctor figured out the problem and switched the medication, gradually fading the effects. 

This marked the start of the new album by Queen of the Meadow, called A Room to Store Happiness. The first song that was written, and therefore guided the direction of the record, was Withdrawn. This song has a lively spirit, making it a thankful and hopeful ode to music and how it can save you in hard times. All songs on the record ended up with a stronger fighter spirit than before, creating a sense of empowerment.

A Room to Store Happiness is intimate but bright, melancholic yet combative. Helen and her (musical and life) partner Julien Pras made a sad record about moments of joy, stored in an old room. Feel free to enter the room and share this celebration of (all aspects of) life.

Order: https://tinyroomrecords.bandcamp.com/album/a-room-to-store-happiness

09 Empty Room

Naked Shortsellers - Harbour Men

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Best Of Folks

Microplaza writes super short quirky indie pop songs. The duo clearly divided the tasks: one writes the music, the other takes care of the vocals and lyrics. 'A Question' comes from their second mini album 'We'll Never Fit In This Poem Together' and is about death as a big and inevitable eternal question mark.

Check out the whole album here: 
https://tinyroomrecords.bandcamp.com/album/well-never-fit-in-this-poem-together

We'll Never Fit In This Poem Together

Microplaza - A Question

Karl Blau (USA) and Stefan Breuer from The World of Dust (NL) cross paths when they perform together in an old mill in The Netherlands, September 2017. Being a longtime admirer of Blau’s work (both solo and with The Microphones, Laura Veirs and LAKE), Breuer was touched by the unfiltered niceness and sincerity of the person behind this music. They stayed in contact and decided to make a record together. The 7” record ‘Blue Herons’ (limited edition of 200) will come out on April 7, 2020 on Breuer’s label Tiny Room Records. 

Karl Blau recorded his side of the vinyl ‘Slightly Salted’ in Germantown, Philadelphia, where he currently resides with his family. The song was originally written by Bryan Elliott and recorded by his band Pounding Serfs in 1989. Since then, it more or less became the theme song to Anacortes, Washington (also the home of Mount Eerie and Beat Happening). The lovely, seaside village of Anacortes was Blau’s home for 25 years, until his recent move to Philadelphia. Spiritually he may still be found in Anacortes of Skagit Valley, northwest Washington State.

Four years ago, Stefan Breuer and his family moved out of Hoograven, Utrecht to a nearby village called Bilthoven. Hoograven is a grey neighbourhood with a lot of flats, sandwiched between two busy highways. Apart from the uninspiring surroundings, the vibe was unfriendly and hostile. Eventually, Breuer and his wife decided not to raise their kids in Hoograven. In Bilthoven they found peace, serenity, and woods. The first half of ‘The Life of Gods’ is about Hoograven, the second half is about Bilthoven. 

Blau grew up on Samish Island, a former island in Washington. In the late 1800s, the Dutch settlers diked off the tide flats to make farm land there. Because of this, you can now drive to Samish Island, making it a peninsula shaped like the head of a blue heron. Hence the title of this combined effort, where both songs are tributes to the place you live(d).

The World of Dust - The Life Of Gods

Karl Blau - Slightly Salted

A band formed out of nostalgia in the remembrance of good times. Inspired by the likes of Daniel Johnston and others in the hopes to feel what you used to feel. 

Archer EP will be released by Tiny Room Records (NL) and Salty Speakers (USA) on December 22, 2020.

Tiny Wine - Leaves

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Tiny Room Records is a Dutch record label for underground artists. We help upcoming bands with their recordings, tours, releases, and with reaching their (niche) audience. We focus on experimental indie rock, lo-fi, noise, grunge, shoegaze, etc.

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