Soundtrack to my Life: Tiny Ruins

Hollie Fullbrook of Tiny Ruins

Each week we ask music lovers to share seven songs that have shaped their life. This week it's Silver Scrolls nominee Tiny Ruins, aka Hollie Fullbrook, who is playing tomorrow night at the Mt Eden Chamber Music Festival.

All My Life - K-Ci & JoJo

I was obsessed with The Beatles up until the age of 12 but I was about to start high school and wanted to fit in with my peers. I thought, "I have to listen to the music of my time" because I was self-conscious that I didn't like any music that was cool. I remember the moment I changed the radio station from Solid Gold FM over to 91ZM. I shed a tear. It was a really big moment. This was one of the first songs I seized upon that was of my time. It was cool and current and the first R&B that I'd really heard. I didn't grow up listening to R&B or rap so it was my introduction to that. The only CD shop I knew of was in LynnMall, which was close to where I lived. I went there and saw the cassingle and that was the moment that I really fully invested in music. It was $5.99. It's very schmoozy and schmaltzy but in the right ways. I love it.

Regional Echo - Jen Cloher

She'd been on my radar when I met her a few years ago playing a show. It was just before she released her self-titled album. The more I listened to it the more I admired her as a songwriter. The way Jen tells stories is really strong and subtle at the same time. The language she uses is very precise. She's able to say a lot with few words. I look to her as a beacon of songwriting. Regional Echo represents the best of what songwriting can be; it tells a story and is also just a great track. Jen's opening all of our shows around the country and it's a real treat to have her on tour with us.

It All Came Back Today - Tanita Tikaram

You know how parents ask their kids, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" It's down in writing that I said I wanted to be like Tanita Tikaram. I vividly remember seeing a live concert of hers on the TV when I must have been about 3. My dad had a Walkman and I would listen to that album over and over. I don't know what it was that drew me in but it was really special to me as a child. I found an old copy of it on vinyl recently and bought it, took it home and listened to it. It was so weird, like going back in time and being in another lifetime.

Here Comes the Sun - Nina Simone
I love The Beatles' version, they were a massive influence on me, but I heard Nina Simone's version when I was about 16 and it blew my mind. Here was a song I knew so well interpreted in a really different way. I'd never heard anything like her voice before. I took the CD to school and played it to my best friend, another music department geek. We'd hang out in the room where the music stands were stored. it was our refuge at lunchtimes and I remember sitting in there, playing it and her freaking out. A lot of Nina Simone's songs are spooky and my friend couldn't handle it. She was like, "Urgh, it makes me feel weird." But that was the beginning of my love for Nina Simone.

So Long Marianne - Leonard Cohen
The whole album Songs of Leonard Cohen was formative for me because it was the first record that my mum bought, so she always played it in a "this is very special" type of way. She didn't force it upon me but slowly Leonard Cohen was interwoven into my life. I didn't see him when he played here and it's probably one of my biggest regrets. There was a reason why I didn't go, I can't remember what it was but it was a bad reason in retrospect. I know a lot of people who went and said it was a religious experience. I feel like I definitely missed out. It's a big regret.

Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The friend who I formed my first band with had a brother who knew a lot of indie music. She would make me mix-CDs and Maps was on one of those. It was towards the end of high school, I'd recently broken up with my boyfriend and feeling that existential angst of being 18 and trying to figure out what you're doing with your life. You know, you put your Discman on and go for a walk around your suburb. Go to LynnMall ... LynnMall featured a lot in my teenage years. Unfortunately. But I'll always remember the feeling of first hearing that song. I'm still trying to chase that feeling. A song called Holograms, off our record [Olympic Girls] is a little bit of a tribute to the opening of Maps. I reckon it's one of the most beautiful songs of all time.

Andmoreagain - Love

In 2015 I met Bic Runga and we planned a tour together. We played each other's songs and played covers. This was one that Bic brought and we learnt it but it didn't make the cut, but the song stayed with me. The weirdest thing is we played this cover on our recent tour of the UK. The first night we attempted it we were somewhere obscure, York. It wasn't a big show, there was less than 100 people there. We'd only vaguely learnt it but you have to dive in and start somewhere. I said to the audience, "Hopefully none of you are massive Love fans, because this might be slightly ramshackle." After the show this guy came up and said, "I'm an old friend of Love. I actually managed them." We'd literally just played the song for the very first time in front of Love's manager. He said it wasn't bad.

- As told to Karl Puschmann