Five years after releasing their debut album, “The Broken Vessels,” Tiny Boats returns with their sophomore effort, “Thicker Than Blood”. The band blends the earnest lyrics and songwriting of Jesse Crowley with the solid arrangements of Jason Jones (MagicJones.com). The pair have been making music together for over a decade, starting with a stint in a pop rock cover band where they discovered a mutual passion for home recording and production. From the beginning, the dynamic between the two included bouncing song parts and pieces back and forth – testing and challenging each other to improve lyrics, arrangements, and production elements. The eleven tracks from “Thicker Than Blood” boomeranged back and forth over the years, with bursts of inspired creativity juxtaposed with periods of dormancy due to the pressures and complications of family life, day jobs, and other creative endeavors.

Tiny Boats’ diverse, contrasting sound is personified in the production process itself. In every track, there exists a mixture of sounds captured in both the beautiful, custom-built recording studio which Jones owns and operates (Art City Sound) and the much more humble, basement set-up where Crowley records. The epic stomps which open the new record bounce off his unfinished cement floor and walls. They are carefully layered on top of the crisp, full sound of Jones’ thunderous drums and bass with Crowley’s soaring vocals and guitar on top. The feeling and presence captured is somehow greater than the sum of its parts.



A direct reflection of its authors, “Thicker Than Blood” is a collection of songs about trying to live a fulfilled, examined life. The songs are often personal and introspective and at times aggressively optimistic – a reaction to the mass divisions happening all over the globe. At its most political, it’s a simple rallying cry to shrug off the labels and baggage of the left and right to start real conversations with real people.

