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
Personal Best
Small Black Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
the dance is choreographed
there looms the pattern
more random every day
seen through a pane of glass
but clearly magnified
we sit and focus
and hone in on the worst
don't see us running out of time
and its true
we should've learned enough to
chalk it up as a loss
our day is coming quick
we put it off of course
in a line of thinking
we had doubted from the start
the only cost of which would be
our bullshit time
still see us lying in the dark
fixing, just staring at the void
making a list
setting demands
reminds me why
I might have cared
oh
she said
come take your birds and fly
go find the afterlife
go out and focus
hone in on the void
I see you running out of time
I see you running out of time
I see you running out of time
even if you did would be (black?)
oh
just see you and me
just see you running out of time
just see you and me
just see you running
just see you and me
just see you
lying in the dark
lying in the dark
lying in the
just see you lying in the dark
oh
In Small Black's song "Personal Best," the lyrics reflect on the passing of time and the way in which we construct our lives. The first verse highlights the tension between our desire for control and the randomness of life. The dance, a metaphor for life, is something we like to pretend is choreographed, but in reality, the pattern is becoming more random each day. The second half of the verse recognizes our tendency to focus on the negative aspects of our lives. The singer, however, remains optimistic, expressing that they don't see us running out of time, and that we should chalk up our losses as part of the learning experience.
The second verse explores a feeling of being stuck and unsure of how to move forward. We've put off our day, and our doubts from the beginning are now coming to light. The cost of this indecision is our wasted time. The lyrics portray a sense of lying in the dark, staring at the void, and making lists without any real action. The singer finds hope in a message from someone else, encouraging them to take control of their life, go find the afterlife, and focus on the void. The final repetition of "just see you lying in the dark" brings the song back to its original theme of the passing of time and the danger of not taking control of our lives.
Line by Line Meaning
Though we like to pretend
Despite our desire to believe
the dance is choreographed
that life follows a planned sequence
there looms the pattern
however, a recurring structure persists
more random every day
which appears increasingly haphazard
seen through a pane of glass
the chaos is visible yet distant
but clearly magnified
larger than life in its intensity
we sit and focus
we fixate on it
and hone in on the worst
highlighting the negative aspects
but I don't see us running out of time
yet I believe we still have time to spare
and its true we should've learned enough to
admittedly, we should have gained enough wisdom to
chalk it up as a loss
accept that it is a failure and move on
our day is coming quick
our fate is fast approaching
we put it off of course
we have been avoiding facing it
in a line of thinking
following a set of ideas
we had doubted from the start
that we have been skeptical of from the beginning
the only cost of which would be
what we would lose is only
our bullshit time
our wasted time
still see us lying in the dark
we are still stuck in a negative state of mind
fixing, just staring at the void
trying to solve the problem without progress
making a list, setting demands
establishing guidelines and expectations
reminds me why I might have cared
which leads me to consider why I was invested in the first place
she said come take your birds and fly
she advised to take chances and escape the negative situation
go find the afterlife
seek out a better existence
go out and focus, hone in on the void
concentrate on the emptiness and work through it
I see you running out of time
I see that time is running out for you
even if you did would be (black?)
even if you succeeded it may not matter
just see you and me
imagine just you and me
just see you running out of time
observe how you are running out of time
just see you and me
again, imagine just you and me
just see you running
just see that you are running
just see you and me
once more, imagine just you and me
just see you
just see that you are here
lying in the dark
still stuck in a negative state of mind
lying in the dark
still stuck in a negative state of mind
lying in the
stuck in negativity
just see you lying in the dark
this is how I envision you: stuck and negative
oh
Oh
Writer(s): Juan Pieczanski, Ryan Heyner, Joshua Kolenik, Jeffrey Curtin
Contributed by Ava S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.