Miniature Tigers

Centered on singer/songwriter Charlie Brand, the quirky baroque and synth pop outfit Miniature Tigers calls Brooklyn home. The project took shape in 2006 in Brand’s native Phoenix, Arizona, where it started out as a solitary bedroom-recording endeavor. His acoustic guitar anchored tracks that drew on an eclectic array of pop touchstones—the Cars’ strut, Weezer’s snark, Phil Spector’s polish—leading the band to sign with Modern Art Records, the imprint co-founded by Phoenix contemporaries Chronic Future. Drummer Rick Schaier, guitarist Algernon Quashie, and bassist Alex Gerber joined the lineup, and the group issued the breezy Tell It to the Volcano in September 2008.

Following extensive cross-country touring, the members relocated to Brooklyn during pockets of downtime, allowing Brand to develop more experimental and ambitious material that incorporated broader instrumentation. Producers affiliated with Neon Indian and the Morning Benders helped shape the sessions, which took place upstate New York and surfaced in summer 2010 as Fortress. Further evolution appeared in 2012 on the synthy, dance-oriented Mia Pharaoh, which folded in pronounced ’80s new wave influences. Two years afterward came the similarly disco- and synth-pop-steeped Cruel Runnings, produced by Chris Zane (Walkmen, Passion Pit). Following a short hiatus, the band resurfaced in 2017 with the loosely structured concept album I Dreamt I Was a Cowboy, whose theme centered on being in love.