Q&A: Tiny Habits Show Another Side of ‘Keepers’ at All Things Go DC
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY SHEVON GREENE ☆
THERE HAS BEEN NOTHING TINY ABOUT TINY HABITS’ YEAR SO FAR—especially with the release of their sophomore album Keepers. The trio of Maya Rae, Cinya Khan and Judah Mayowa have made their three voices the throughline in their music, but their newest record gives those harmonies more room to stretch with fuller arrangements, bigger dynamics and tracks that make you want to just get up and dance.
That expansion isn’t only from a sonic perspective. While love has always found its way into Tiny Habits’ writing, Keepers opens the door to friendship, family and figuring out adulthood alongside the people closest to you. Their friendship and creative partnership go hand-in-hand to the point where their music feels like a shared language they’ve spent years developing together. In Khan’s words, they’re “opening that door outward” for listeners.
Their All Things Go DC set put that perspective to an interesting test. The trio pulled some of their newest songs back to their roots, leaning again on vocal arrangements as the center of Tiny Habits. It offered another perspective of their versatility and even gave the trio arrangements they’re planning to carry onto tour.
But when the Keepers Tour begins this fall, they’ll be moving in the opposite direction again. Faster songs like “Love Ruins Everything,” “Towel” and “Someone You Love” mean fewer moments behind instruments and apparently significantly more dancing.
Luna chatted with Tiny Habits at All Things Go DC about finding new ways into Keepers, the friendship behind their creative partnership and finally making room for a Tiny Habits dance party.
LUNA: Congrats on performing at All Things Go! Keepers has been out for about a month. How was it playing newer songs, and how was it playing for a festival crowd?
MAYOWA: It was so fun. It’s definitely a little scarier, especially playing new songs because you don’t really get a soundcheck. But everyone was so nice and it was a good time.
RAE: It was a first for us. We haven’t played a lot of these songs live yet. And also just recontextualizing them in a non-full-band format, because the album is very big, very full-band, and so we took it back to our roots. It was really fun.
LUNA: Was there anything that you learned from the set that you want to take into your upcoming tour or live performances?
KHAN: We spend all our time arranging all of these songs, and I think we’ll probably be using a lot of the vocal arrangements on tour, which is super exciting. So we’ve done some of the work.
LUNA: Is there a song on Keepers that people have connected with or interpreted in a way that surprised you from what you’ve seen so far?
RAE: The ones that we thought were going to connect have connected. People are really loving “Love Ruins Everything,” which is the first track, super upbeat. People are loving “Anything He Was,” but also “Someone You Love.” These are the more upbeat ones, but it’s been beautiful.
LUNA: I love how Keepers expands on more than just romantic love, like friendship, family, growing up. Did opening up those other parts of your lives change anything about the way you guys write together, or did it help you guys grow even closer than you already are?
KHAN: We’ve always been very open with each other, and we were opening that door outward for the world to see more than internally. But I think this has been a really cool experience, being that honest and just growing up together and telling our stories.
LUNA: You guys have already known each other for a while, starting when you were singing at Berklee. But what’s something that you’ve had to learn about each other as creative partners that you didn’t necessarily know as friends?
RAE: It’s been simultaneous, the friendship and the creative process. We’ve learned a lot of patience with each other, which has been beautiful for both our creativity and also our friendship, because it’s so important. Because we write and we make music together and have been on this crazy journey together, we’ve learned to be really patient and compassionate.
KHAN: I’ve learned that we fill an entire spectrum as far as type A to type B, which has been really interesting because without any one of us, [we] just wouldn’t function properly. It’s been really fascinating to realize. [We’re] a beautiful puzzle.
LUNA: You’re about to head on your 25-city headline tour. Congrats! Now that you’re starting to play these songs live, is there one that you’re especially excited to build out or have a plan for?
MAYOWA: Definitely any of the faster songs on the album—“Towel,” “Love Ruins Everything,” “Someone You Love.” We’re very used to a cozy set; [they’re] pretty similar in tempo and dynamic. Those will be fun to dance and move around to, which is a little new for us. We have a lot of fun.
RAE: When we’re all playing instruments, it’s hard to completely showcase that because we’re locked in on so many things. For this tour, there’s a lot of songs where we’re just dancing and not playing anything. That’ll be cool.
MAYOWA: It’ll be so exciting! I’m so excited for a dance party.
RAE: Dance party, dance party!
