Little Kid is the Toronto-based labour of love, led by Kenny Boothby, that have been stolidly self-releasing their music and honing their sound since 2011. The act has now been signed by Solitaire Recordings, who will be helping Little Kid disseminate their unique indie stylings to the world with a new record slated for later this year. For now, Little Kid offer us a taster of what’s to come with the delightfully bristling “Thief on the Cross”, a song about jealousy, Boothby explains:
“The song is about certain bands finding success while others don’t. Feelings of jealousy that might sprout from that, some perceived obligations for more successful bands to help out the newer ones, the awkwardness that can come from shifts in those power dynamics… but it’s definitely very tongue in cheek. I’m kind of poking fun at myself a bit, kinda praying some bands we have played with will somehow take us along with them to the promised land as they gain more success and exposure.”
The feeling of hidden frustration is captured in the crunchy guitar that scaffolds “Thief on the Cross”, while Boothby sings in tones of honest hopefulness. This is underscored by twanging banjo, which Little Kid ride into a delightfully plinking chorus: “don’t take it so personal / you weren’t the first one to ask” they mewl over warm guitars and piano. It’s good advice, made even more relatable by the homespun folk sound Little Kid have cultivated. But when “Thief on the Cross” reaches its haywire finale, you get the feeling that the constant re-calibrating might have seen Boothby lose a few of his marbles along the way, and the song collapses into a joyous, string-pulling mess.
We’ll be on the look out for more new music from Little Kid in the near future, and you can do the same by following them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Bandcamp.
