Tiny Moving Parts Live in Huntington, New York

This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

Tiny Moving Parts will release their third full-length album, Celebrate, on May 20th, and after seeing them perform two sets opening for The Wonder Years last weekend, I can’t possible think up a more appropriate title for the band’s new record.


From the moment guitarist/vocalist Dylan Mattheisen tapped away at the intro to set opener “Always Focused,” the two non-drum-playing members of Tiny Moving Parts bounced, shuffled and stumbled their way all over the stage. The set bubbled forward with bountiful, joyous energy. I’ve seen many bands over the years, and the majority of them seemingly enjoyed every moment, big and small, that happened to them. But very, very few of the bands I’ve seen over the years gave me the impression that this is the only thing I could see them ever be totally happy doing. Tiny Moving Parts is so obviously added to the shortlist after seeing these sets in Huntington, NY and Stroudsburg, PA.


I think back to the music video they released for the second single on their new record, “Headache.” The video is a fairly straightforward concept. If this is your last day on Earth, what would you do with your time? The obvious answers flow forth fairly quickly: put yourself in bodily harm, in this case by surfing on a coach strapped to the roof of a truck, see some landmarks one last time (or for the first time), and skydive. But the video closes with 30 seconds of the band performing in a tiny, intimate venue. Ultimately, to me, the video’s takeaway is what I already knew after seeing the band live; that if Tiny Moving Parts had one more day on this Earth, you can bet your ass they’re playing a show to celebrate the life they had up to that point.


Photo by Craig Ismaili


The pure joy flowing forth from that stage was visible clear-as-day. The way they talked excitedly about their upcoming record before playing the lead single, “Happy Birthday,” the way a toothy grin seemed to never leave Mattheisen’s face the entire 40 minutes or so he was on stage, and the way the fed off the emotion and energy that the fans gave off were all enlivening. There’s a sense of camaraderie in their music that is seldom experienced outside of punk/emo circles, to be sure, but I think there is something even more entrancing at play about the way they pull an audience in.


They make the audience care for them, root for them to succeed. And in return, they give the audience joyous music to play at their proudest moments, uplifting songs to play at their darkest moments, and some philosophical songs to play when you’re somewhere between.

Let’s make sand castles while we can / Cause we’ll age and then someday / We will look back and say, / What ravishing lives that we lived. / What fascinating places we went.
​

Setlist

1. Always Focused
2. Clouds Above My Head
3. Happy Birthday
4. Vacation Bible School
5. Fair Trade
6. I Hope Things Go the Way I Hope
7. Sundress
8. Dakota

The post Tiny Moving Parts Live in Huntington, New York appeared first on chorus.fm.