Small Black started with a name and worked backwards: a housemate of singer/multi-instrumentalist Josh Kolenik came up with the moniker on a cold Portland, Oregon night. The name stuck when he returned to Long Island, New York and began collaborating with Ryan Heyner, an area musician and former member of the hardcore band Silent Majority who shared friends with Kolenik. The pair holed up in the attic of the beach house and surfboard shop Kolenik's uncle owned to record songs with vintage keyboards and samplers, spending late 2008 and early 2009 recording as Uncle Matt made surfboards underneath them.
Though Kolenik had played in several bands before Small Black, the mix of shoegaze and synth pop he and Heyner hit upon felt special, and the group's lineup was complete once bassist/guitarist Juan Pieczanski and Jeff Curtin from Kolenik's previous band, Slowlands, joined to bolster production and fill out their live act. Small Black released their self-titled five-song EP on their own CassClub label in October 2009, and released the U.K. single "Despicable Dogs" as well as a video for that song featuring Uncle Matt soon after. Following their performances at that year’s CMJ Music Marathon, Small Black signed to Jagjaguwar Records, which reissued the band’s debut EP with two bonus tracks in 2010. That year, they also released a split single with the like-minded Washed Out, with whom they also toured. New Chain, the band's first full-length, boasted a slightly more polished sound that reflected their consistent touring as well as their interest in hip-hop and arrived in October 2010. In late 2011, the band offered the Moon Killer mixtape as a free download from their website. The collection of new material was built on samples ranging from Pere Ubu to Nicki Minaj and featured multiple drop-ins from Das Racist MC Heems as well as remixes from Star Slinger and Phonetag.
After spending much of 2012 on the road, Small Black returned with May 2013's Limits of Desire, a more sophisticated-sounding set influenced by Talk Talk and the Blue Nile. They covered the latter band's classic "Downtown Lights" on the following year's Real People EP, which had a more dancefloor-oriented style and featured vocals from Frankie Rose. Small Black's passion for sophisti-pop grew on October 2015's Best Blues. Recorded by the band in their Brooklyn home studio and mixed by Nicholas Vernhes at the Rare Book Room Studio, the album included contributions from trumpeter Darby Cicci of the Antlers and vocalist Kaede Ford. Soon after Best Blues' release, Kolenik's Uncle Matt passed away, and the memory of him inspired many of the songs on Small Black's fourth album. Arriving on 100% Electronica in April 2021, the reflective Cheap Dreams found the band returning from their hiatus with an extra dose of goth to their synth pop reveries. In 2023, Small Black looked back with a pair of archival releases. They commemorated the tenth anniversary of Limits of Desire with a deluxe edition of the album, and also issued a deluxe version of their debut EP that included previously unreleased songs from their early beach house sessions.
Biography by Heather Phares for ALLMUSIC
Breathless
Small Black Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Future's fine
Least it seems okay
It doesn't mean a miracle
Should be turned away
On that day
Saw both my life and death
Felt the kick of fate
There I was invisible
Just out of phase
There's no sun, no storm
No time, nowhere
Breathless
For a moment I was
Nowhere
Breathless
There's no sun, no storm
Nowhere
Breathless
For a moment I was
Breathless
Both the void and the parade
Were in due time
And they feel the same
Even if I wanted to
Well I can't explain
Just how could I be standing here
Across divides
Unhurt, unfazed
It didn't feel impossible
But it looked that way
There's no sun, no storm
No time, nowhere
Breathless
For a moment I was
Nowhere
Breathless
There's no sun, no storm
Nowhere
Breathless
For a moment I was
Breathless
For a moment I was fine
For a moment I was fine
In "Breathless" by Small Black, the singer appears to be in the midst of an existential crisis. The song suggests a sense of uneasiness as the singer stands in "tomorrow's way" and contemplates both the joy and inevitability of life and death. As the singer struggles to comprehend the purpose of their existence, they describe feeling "invisible" but "unhurt" and "unfazed." This contradictory sense of detachment and connection is evident throughout the song. They also mention that they felt the "kick of fate" as if something was supposed to happen to them but did not occur.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of "Breathless" is the way the singer emphasizes the nothingness they feel. They describe feeling "nowhere" and mention that there is "no sun, no storm, no time." This repetition of emptiness and lack of substance contributes to the song's overall feeling of uncertainty and anxiety. Yet, despite this pervasive sense of unease, the singer seems to find peace in the momentary feeling of being "fine."
Line by Line Meaning
I'm standing in tomorrow's way
I am blocking my own path forward
Future's fine
The future seems good
Least it seems okay
At the very least, it seems okay
It doesn't mean a miracle
Should be turned away
Even though it isn't a miracle, it shouldn't be ignored
On that day
Saw both my life and death
In two lines
Felt the kick of fate
There I was invisible
Just out of phase
I experienced a moment of fate where I saw the potential of both life and death, felt the weight of fate, and felt disconnected from reality
There's no sun, no storm
No time, nowhere
Breathless
For a moment I was
Nowhere
Breathless
There's no sun, no storm
Nowhere
Breathless
For a moment I was
Breathless
I felt overwhelming emotion and a sense of dissociation from reality, as if the world ceased to exist for a moment
Both the void and the parade
Were in due time
And they feel the same
Even if I wanted to
Well I can't explain
Both emptiness and celebration occur naturally and have a similar feeling. I am unable to explain this phenomenon, even if I wanted to
Just how could I be standing here
Across divides
Unhurt, unfazed
It didn't feel impossible
But it looked that way
I can't believe that I am standing here unscathed and without harm, despite the odds against me. It didn't seem impossible, but it certainly looked that way
For a moment I was fine
Just for a moment, I felt okay
Lyrics © SC PUBLISHING DBA SECRETLY CANADIAN PUB.
Written by: Jeffrey Urso Curtin, Joshua Hayden Kolenik, Juan Pieczanski, Ryan Frank Heyner
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@blinkskateboarding
I'm standing in tomorrow's way
Future's fine
Least it seems okay
It doesn't mean a miracle
Should be turned away
On that day
Saw both my life and death
In two lines
Felt the kick of fate
There I was invisible
Just out of phase
There's no sun, no storm
No time, nowhere
Breathless
For a moment I was
Nowhere
Breathless
There's no sun, no storm
Nowhere
Breathless
For a moment I was
Breathless
Between the void and the parade
Were in due time
And they feel the same
Even if I wanted to
Well I can't explain
Just how could I be standing here
Across divides
Unhurt, unfazed
It didn't feel impossible
But it looked that way
There's no sun, no storm
No time, nowhere
Breathless
For a moment I was
Nowhere
Breathless
There's no sun, no storm
Nowhere
Breathless
For a moment I was
Breathless
For a moment I was fine
For a moment I was fine
@stevenjasso5998
I wish I could explain how alive this song makes me feel.
@felipetorri5355
It makes us so happy!
@antislug
love coming home and playing this on my record player and dancing <3
@RealEddieG84
"For a moment, I was fine..." So deep and this video shows the beauty in moments for all types of people.
@Omo21000
😔😔 me too I wish I was this free
@kevinhernandez5136
Dont need to... your comment said it perfectly
@joedso9710
This is exactly what music is about!!! Ahhhh!!! Im 28 yrs old wishing i could go back 10 yrs now!!! Live!!! Everyone live!!!!
@bigceec15
I feel the exact same way at 29. We still have time to have more fun!
@MeEncantaKiley
Just stay in shape
@JohnnyAwesomePants
It's amazing when a music video director can capture emotion like this from a song not with a bunch of special effects and editing, but just a sequence of everyday and not-so-everyday moments that make our lives and the world we live in so diverse and beautiful. I aspire to create videos/films like this that make me appreciate the life I get to share with those around me. It's so inspiring. Thank you Small Black and Nick Bentgen and the whole crew. Terrific job!