Ranging from chillwave to sophisticated electro-pop, Small Black fuses long… Read Full Bio ↴Ranging from chillwave to sophisticated electro-pop, Small Black fuses longing, noise, and melody into lushly wistful songs. On their 2009 self-titled EP and 2010 debut album, New Chain, their lo-fi hybrid of shoegaze and synth pop helped put chillwave on the map and fit into the larger indie tradition of artists couching their heartbreak in homespun sounds. In the 2010s and beyond, they polished their style, and emphasized their '80s sophisti-pop influences on 2013's Limits of Desire, but as poised as their music grew, albums such as 2021's Cheap Dreams kept the emotional pull of their songwriting at the forefront.

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

Lines of Latitude
Small Black Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Here am I
so close to the frost
Here am I
in the grove
far from the falls
In and out of where
you & I
slaughtered the palm

It's not all the time
Just when it strikes
It's not all the time
Just when it strikes
The lines I crossed for you
The lines I crossed for you
Caught in the vast dance
of the streets
Never thought
you'd find your
way back again
In and out of hotels
and the bars
moving the pen
It's not all the time
Just when it strikes
It's not all the time
Just when it strikes

The lines I crossed for you
The lines I crossed for you

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Small Black's song Lines of Latitude depict a sense of disorientation and confusion in a post-romantic landscape. The persona of the song is searching for a sense of place but feels stuck between different locations and scenes. The first verse sets the scene in a forest grove, a place that feels remote and disconnected from the traveler's current whereabouts. The line "slaughtered the palm" creates a violent image that adds to the disorientation that the persona is experiencing. The following lines suggest that the persona is not always feeling lost, but rather that it is a sporadic occurrence that strikes seemingly at random.

The second verse shifts the location to the bustling city, where the persona is caught in the "vast dance of the streets." The lines "Never thought you'd find your way back again" suggest that the persona may be searching for an old flame, or a sense of belonging that they once had but lost. The verse ends with the image of the persona writing in hotels and bars, using the movement of the pen as a way to ground themselves in the present moment.

Overall, the lyrics of Lines of Latitude depict a sense of searching for a sense of place in a world that is constantly moving and changing. The imagery and sporadic nature of the disorientation that the persona is experiencing suggest a space between longing for something lost and acceptance of the present moment.

Line by Line Meaning

Here am I so close to the frost
I am present in a location that's dangerously cold and icy.

Here am I in the grove far from the falls
I am situated in a peaceful, secluded area away from waterfalls and other distracting noises.

In and out of where you & I slaughtered the palm
I frequently revisit the place where you and I destroyed the palm tree.

It's not all the time Just when it strikes
This situation doesn't happen all the time, only when a specific trigger sets it off.

The lines I crossed for you The lines I crossed for you
I took great risks and made significant sacrifices for you.

Caught in the vast dance of the streets
I am stuck in the fast-paced, ever-changing lifestyle of the city.

Never thought you'd find your way back again
I didn't expect you to return after leaving me for so long.

In and out of hotels and the bars moving the pen
I spend a lot of time in hotels and bars, but also devote time to writing.

The lines I crossed for you The lines I crossed for you
I took great risks and made significant sacrifices for you.

Contributed by Samantha F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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