Lizzy McAlpine Taps Berklee Band for Tiny Desk Harmonies

Lizzy McAlpine Taps Berklee Band for Tiny Desk Harmonies The 23-year-old Berklee alum appeared with buzzy vocal trio Tiny Habits in her first performance on NPRs stripped-down concert series.

By

John Mirisola

November 9, 2022

Lizzy McAlpine '20 performs with Tiny Habits at NPRs Tiny Desk. Left to right: Judah Mayowa, Maya Rae, Lizzy McAlpine, Cinya Khan.

Image by Bob Boilen/NPR

When Lizzy told us that all shed need for her Tiny Desk concert were some microphones and a few acoustic guitars, I was surprised, wrote NPRs Tiny Desk concert producer Bob Boilen in the intro to this weeks installment, saying he was curious and eager to hear her rise to the challenge of our intimate setting. Spoiler: McAlpine '20 rose to that challenge handily. But to hear those harmonies fill up that D.C. office space, its probably better to describe the performance as a kind of floating. Accompanied by Tiny Habits, a vocal-driven trio that formed at Berklee in early 2022, McAlpines indie-rock-tinged folk songs take on a cozy-sweater quality thats just right for early November, while the arrangements still carry a level of harmonic complexity youd expect from Berklee-trained musicians who have grasped the world of possibilities beyond simple thirds and fifths.

Watch: Lizzy McAlpine Live on #BerkleeAtHome

McAlpine was the inaugural performer in the Berklee Popular Music Institutes 2020 music series.

Featuring Judah Mayowa and current students Cinya Khan and Maya Rae, Tiny Habits made immediate waves on TikTok early this year with their striking bite-sized covers of artists ranging from Kelly Clarkson to the 1975 to McAlpine herself. These videos regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views and sometimes more than a million. Theyve also been featured in Berklees Two Track video series, and this fall they opened for jazz singer Melody Gardot at the Berklee Performance Center, Berklees biggest stage.

McAlpine said she met the band over Instagram around a year ago. Since then, theyve performed together in a handful of TikToks, including this gorgeous cover of The Gold by Manchester Orchestra. When it was time to prepare to play a Tiny Desk set (literally a dream come true McAlpine said), she knew the trio could lend a distinctive sound to songs that had received a more full-band treatment on her most recent album, five seconds flat. I just wanted it to be more intimate, and they definitely help with that, she said. And theyre also very, very talented.

Watch Lizzy McAlpines full Tiny Desk Concert, featuring Tiny Habits:

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