Tiny Fighter Hollow Talk Interview

For Fans Of: Aldous Harding | CLOVES | Wolf Alice | Agnes Obel | Choir of Young Believers

Indie-pop group Tiny Fighter follow-up the success of their debut single by releasing their second single Hollow Talk.

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Fans of scandi-noir classic The Bridge may recognise this reinterpretation of the show's opening theme. Full of dramatic piano, cellos and berserker drums, Hollow Talk represents a departure from the poppier sounds of their previous single New Century. Hollow Talk was recorded in Los Angeles and Stockholm with Daniel Reymer (Ben Frost, Foals, Girls Names). Despite the staggering odds against them ever meeting, Therese Karlsson (a truck driver from Kalmar in southern Sweden) and Tim Spelman (a doctor from Melbourne, Australia) came together in Stockholm in 2017. Recently hailed as a "fast-rising indie-pop duo from Stockholm" (CelebMix) who make "The most unique tracks we've heard" (NeuFutr), Tiny Fighter has recently expanded from a duo into a fully-fledged live six-piece band, bringing all the dynamics and volume of their recorded material on to the stage.

Following on from their award-winning, fully 360-degree video collaboration with Kyle V James for previous single New Century, Tiny Fighter have this time teamed up with renowned Swedish filmmaking sisters Kentsdottir to create an intimate, cinematic music video for Hollow Talk, featuring vocalist Therese Karlsson. Part classic mood piece, part cautionary tale of attempting said mood piece, the video follows Therese through a day of recording where things go from good, to slightly less good, to downright bad.

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Interview with Therese Karlsson

Question: How would you describe Tiny Fighter 's music?

Therese Karlsson: Commuter-pop perhaps? We're suckers for a good driving song and looking back most of our song tempos tend to invariably come out at around 102 or 104 beats per minutes. Which is optimal, elbow-out-window cruising pace. It's also the recommended number of chest compressions in CPR, so it's a flexible and highly practical pace!


Question: What inspired the new track, Hollow Talk

Therese Karlsson: This was the very first song Tim and I ever played together, and it was this song more than anything that proved to us that we had something, that we could work together. That wordless moment where you just know a collaboration is more than just the sum of its parts. It's special to us and I think best expresses our range and intent with this band.


Question: Which is your favourite song to perform live and why?

Therese Karlsson: It's hard to go past Hollow Talk. Dynamically it moves from a dead simple single piano note to an absolute chaotic, totally berserk crescendo of the most violent piano and drums. An utter, exhausting, flat-out catharsis. It's a little like an emotional exorcism. It really takes the audience on a journey, or at least that's what we hope it does. It's also quite challenging to play live so when we pull it off then we're ecstatic!


Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Therese Karlsson: One really cannot exist without the other but at the moment I'd have to say playing live. Songs change character and morph when you take them out of the studio and put them in front or people in a live context. And it's challenging. The studio is forgiving - mistakes can be made, errors removed. But the true nature of the song can only really reveal itself live. The studio is the cause, the live audience is the effect. The only real tangible place where we can observe the immediate reaction, the emotional reaction, to something we have created. And if done right this can improve our art for the better. We've recently gone back and completely re-recorded a couple of songs from scratch after a few live performances. I think this is a really good example of the observer effect – how we respond to the audience's reaction to a song actually changes the song. For the better.


Question: What is the story behind the name, Tiny Fighter?

Therese Karlsson: Tim I think enjoys a good underdog metaphor. Battling against the odds and all that. We had this idea of a tiny little microscopic toy soldier – as the embodiment I guess of subtlety and understatement, both being recurring lyrical themes in our songs. And a nice counter-point to the loud and the brash that tends to dominate a lot of media. Volume doesn't always correlate with substance. That and we liked the sound of it. It stuck!


Question: How did the band come together?

Therese Karlsson: Tim relocated to Stockholm from Melbourne a year or so ago and decided to put a band of locals together. Doing his bit for southern/northern hemispheric relations you could say! Tim put an advert up on a local band-finder message board, I liked the sound of it, so we met and took it from there. I think it was apparent pretty early on that we had a complimentary approach to song-writing. It was easy. Always a good sign. I think you know if something is or isn't going to work very early in the piece and thankfully this one worked!

Question: What motivates you most when writing music?

Therese Karlsson: That's a really good question. Honestly, I don't think it's the need for some sort of recognition or approval – although of course it's always nice when other people like your music. It's much more personal than that. It's like a compulsion, a hunger – in the nicest possible sense. I guess I feel most comfortable expressing myself through music rather than in other forms. There is an expansiveness and simultaneously a nuance to music that I don't think everyday conversation can capture.


Question: Which music/artists are you currently listening to?

Therese Karlsson: It's been pretty much Hazel English non-stop for a good couple of months now. I absolutely adore her. We're all big soundtrack fans so there's a fairly constant loop of Max Richter (Taboo, Leftovers), Nathaniel Mechaly (Midnight Sun), Clint Mansell etc.. Closer to home we've been listening to a lot of our Norwegian neighbour AURORA. And for live music we can't go past out fellow Stockholmers Vulkano. Best live band in Scandinavia!


Question: What or who was your inspiration to go into the music industry?

Therese Karlsson: True inspiration I think is a slow burn. And for me it was film soundtracks. The ability to convey both story and emotion with sound alone. The pairing of image and sound perhaps is the most powerful, most volatile combination possible – at least artistically. I wanted also to create this emotion, this depth.


Question: If you could collaborate with another artist, who would it be?

Therese Karlsson: Bat for Lashes. She does pop and she does drama and she does fragility. Exactly the combination we attempt with out music. Just not as well!


Interview by Brooke Hunter