Lizzy McAlpine Joins Tiny Habits in ‘For Sale Sign’

Tiny Habits and Lizzy McAlpine are no strangers, they found each other through Instagram and have collaborated many times. Most notably thus far, the three-piece group comprising Judah Mayowa, Cinya Khan, and Maya Rae provided back-up vocals for McAlpine on her NPR Tiny Desk Concert. ‘For Sale Sign’ is the first song from Tiny Habits and McAlpine. 

McAlpine’s latest album, ‘Older’, is all about the end of a relationship, apart from the 13th track, a tradition in all of her albums, which is about dealing with the death of her father. ‘For Sale Sign’ carries on those themes of endings and death, the chorus lamenting, “Therе's a lot of / People I thought would live / Live forever / I think you were one of them”.

Organic sounding in compound time, this track feels natural, as many Tiny Habits songs do, but with a few surprises. Like lyrics starting on the fourth beat of a bar or McAlpine’s bridge which makes you “think about endings”.

The song ends with the lines “Now nobody's tending to the garden / All the flowers died / They tore down the fence and they put up a for sale sign”, sung in unison. The piece continues with shimmers and diegetic laughter, telling us there is life after death.

Iona Rose Wheeler

@iona.rosew

Image:  johnnchoi

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