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

Panthers
Small Black Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Anywhere that it wants to go
Doesn't want your blood anyway
Lying in wait out there in the wild
Passing time stalking

Unaware of the panthers
Unaware of the panthers

Sitting there on the other shore
Daring you to swim its way
Made of ice calmly
Out of time lurking

Unaware of the panthers
Unaware of the panthers

How do you know they're not there
How do you know they're not there
How do you know they're not there
How do you know they're not there

Panthers in the aisles laying in disguise
Panthers in the aisles stalking

Overall Meaning

Small Black's song "Panthers" is a moody and ominous song that delivers a sense of fear and foreboding. The lyrics of the song describe the lurking presence of panthers out in the wild, waiting and stalking for their prey. The first stanza portrays the panthers as a silent predator moving effortlessly without any inclination of aggression towards human beings. They are free to move wherever they want to go and are unlikely to attack people to quench their thirst for blood. The next verse is a warning to anyone sitting on the other shore daring to swim their way. The panthers are made of ice-like calmness and seem out of time when they're lurking. The chorus repeats the phrase "unaware of the panthers," which highlights the theme that sometimes danger can be lurking in the shadows where we least expect it.

The subsequent lyrics of the song convey a sense of caution and disbelief. The lead singer asks the listeners how they know that the panthers aren't there. This question asks us to be more open to the idea that danger may exist somewhere we don't expect it. The panthers are also shown to be hiding in plain sight, laying in disguise and stalking. Overall, the lyrics in "Panthers" present a sense of eeriness and mystery, which are heightened by the song's hypnotic melodies and soundscapes.

Line by Line Meaning

Anywhere that it wants to go
The panther is free to go wherever it pleases

Doesn't want your blood anyway
The panther is not interested in attacking humans for their blood

Lying in wait out there in the wild
The panther patiently waits in the wilderness for its next prey

Passing time stalking
Stalking prey is the panther's way of passing time

Unaware of the panthers
The prey is not aware of the lurking panthers

Sitting there on the other shore
The panther is sitting across the water from the prey

Daring you to swim its way
The panther is daring the prey to come closer by swimming across the water

Made of ice calmly
The panther is calm and composed like ice

Out of time lurking
Lurking is how the panther spends its time

How do you know they're not there
The prey is unsure if there are panthers nearby

Panthers in the aisles laying in disguise
Panthers are lurking in disguise in unexpected places