Indie-pop band Miniature Tigers is set to perform 7 p.m. March 23 at The Basement. Credit: Courtesy of Miniature Tigers

Indie-pop band Miniature Tigers is set to perform March 23 at 7 p.m. at The Basement.
Credit: Courtesy of Miniature Tigers

After wrapping up its performance at South by Southwest, indie-pop band Miniature Tigers is taking to the Midwest.

Composed of guitarist and singer Charlie Brand, keyboardist Rick Schaier, guitarist Algernon Quashie and bassist Brandon Lee, Miniature Tigers is set to bring its sound to The Basement Sunday in promotion of its fourth album “Cruel Runnings,” set for release May 27.

The Brooklyn-based band started to take shape after Brand and Schaier connected over MySpace by being interested in similar music.

Although listed as alternative on the Facebook page, and described as “indie-pop” by “Rolling Stone,” Brand said the band’s sound, like his musical influences, is always changing.

“We experiment a lot with our sound, so it’s kind of hard to pin it to one thing,” Brand said. “Personally, I think it’s (my musical influences) always changing. Like growing up it was Weezer and Nirvana, and right now it’s probably like Kanye.”

“Cruel Runnings” follows up “Tell It to the Volcano” (2008), “Fortress” (2010) and “Mia Pharaoh” (2012).

According to Miniature Tigers’ biography, the new album is “something halfway between nostalgia and the ecstatic now, an album that yearns for the recent past while staring open-hearted at what the present dares to bring. Songs about swimming pools remembered on sticky summer nights, lovers meeting at discotheques, streets where you used to live.”

“Cruel Runnings” was recorded in Jamaica and produced by Chris Zane, who has also worked with Passion Pit and The Walkmen. Recording in Jamaica with Zane was a great experience for the band, Brand said.

“The opportunity (to go to Jamaica) came up, and we just said, ‘Why not?’ and Zane brought a lot of ideas to the table. He was able to take the songs in the right direction, exactly where we wanted to go,” Brand said.

The band last played in Columbus while touring with fun. in 2012 at the Lifestyle Communities Pavillion, Marissa Luther, marketing director for Promowest Productions, said.

“They haven’t played (in Columbus) in a couple years, and we like to bring bands back when they have a new album coming out, or when they’re on the festival circuit,” Luther said.

Some Ohio State students are fans of Miniature Tigers.

“I just really like their music because they’re fun and interesting, and the songs are rather narrative and you can figure out the story. And some songs are just goofy and funny,” said Chelsea Hothem, a first-year in evolution and ecology.

The band has been going for a matter of years now, and has matured along the way, Brand said.

“I think we’ve just kind of grown as people and as performers, and I mean it’s been six years so we’ve learned a lot,” Brand said.

The Basement is located at 391 Neil Ave. Tickets are $10 in advance, and $12 the day of the show. Doors open at 7 p.m., with Total Slacker and Flashlights set to open.