Tiny Dinosaur - The Buddy System EP

Tiny Dinosaur

The Buddy System EP
self-released; 2016

3.7 out of 5

By Mimi Strauss
​

Imagine your first bite of cereal on a sleepy morning. It’s refreshing, scrumptious and it wakes you up kindly. Tiny Dinosaur’s debut EP is like this inaugural bite of cereal; truly delightful. On The Buddy System, Tiny Dinosaur presents incredibly honest lady-tunes that capture subtle moments of hope and disappointment.

The source of magic behind Tiny Dinosaur are five women, based in Madison, WI. They describe themselves as herbivorous, in-tune and highly attention-deficit. Their indie-folk sound is the product of a ukulele, a bass, a guitar, drums and a viola. In creating their sound, they show incredible restraint. They cradle every note and deliver it with purpose. Although precise, there is also an air of casualty. Tiny Dinosaur is your best friend and they whisper in your ear about their day while a tiny folk band plays in the other ear.  

The instrumental restraint of Tiny Dinosaur proves necessary for the subtly poetic, humble lyrics that take center stage. They express deeply personal feelings and moments that also speak to the masses. On the first track “Tiny Effort” Tiny Dinosaur laments that it only “takes a tiny amount of effort not to be a shitty person.” A true statement indeed. On this track, and others, they manage to promote goodness and joy while retaining an edge of irony and wit. 

The Buddy System would fit snuggly onto the Juno soundtrack (one of the greatest movie soundtracks of all time, let’s not forget). Their acoustic folk sound could be described as a mash-up of Courtney Barnett, Girlpool and the Smiths with some Sofia Coppola fairy dust sprinkled on top.

​Tiny Dinosaur describe themselves as “genreless” and indeed their sound is difficult to define. However, they do not shy away from their gender. They are distinctly, unabashedly female. In both their lyrics and sound they represent that they are proud women with feeling and thoughts that they are eager to share. I could not be happier to hear what they have to say. I only wish this EP was an album and I had more to listen to. I will try to wait patiently.

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