Ben Shemie/Little Kid
Ben Shemie
A Single Point of Light // Hands In The Dark
On A Single Point of Light, Ben Shemie of Suuns employs a new and impressive technique of making a record while still heeding some of the impulses that have helped establish his band as an experimental indie force. Like on last year’s A Skeleton, the Suuns singer recorded the entire album live off the floor with no overdubs in a single day. It’s common for multi-instrumentalists to record “solo albums” by recording each instrument separately by themselves and then layering the tracks so that it sounds as if there’s a whole band playing, but creating a solo album live off the floor is a different trick. Recording in this way is a neat flex, but the coolest part is the way the process shapes the songs. If a solo album sounds like it was created by a full band then sometimes it feels like the album wouldn’t have sounded much different if the artist recruited some session players to jump in on the other instruments, but because of its method of creation, A Single Point of Light feels like a different type of project altogether.
Whenever a member of a band puts out a solo album, their solo work will inevitably be compared to their band’s catalogue. Fans want to know what’s different and what’s the same. They want to know which elements, if any, of their beloved band are represented, and they want to know why this solo offshoot warrants its own plays. Even though this is an electronic album and much of Suuns’ instrumental palette is absent here, Ben Shemie manages to capture some of Suuns’ magic on these songs. The third track “Change” is perhaps the most reminiscent of Suuns, and it’s a haunting minimal wave gem. A slow drum machine beat sets the swaggering pace for the song, and a neurotic synth drives the tune. An ethereal synth line eventually soars in the background, but the vocal does most of the heavy lifting. Despite its electronic components there are no bass drops or extended dance sections on the album. Shemie manages to channel the eerie feel of Suuns, and he revels in the album’s dissonant moments. Alternatively, “Highway 10” has a more uplifting feel, with heavenly synths buoying the melody. The instrumentation allows the lyrics to come through clearly and Shemie adds some darkness, conceding “Everyone is guilty on Highway 10. I tried to jump the fence but they wouldn’t let me in. I’ve sinned and I’ve sinned and I’ve sinned and I’ve sinned.” A Single Point of Light occupies a similar territory as the Suuns albums, conveying similar moods, albeit with its own set of instruments and sounds.
The album consists of eleven tracks, four of which are instrumental interludes. However, each song flows into the next so the instrumental tracks often feel like extended outros. There’s an incredible ebb and flow to the album. Different electronic elements move in and out and make way for other sounds. The end of one song moves into the beginning of the next as a pulsing synth persists while a different percussion track creeps in to change the feel of the piece. Suuns tracks like “Holocene City” and “Images du Futur” have pulled off this same seamless transition, but on this album all of the tracks flow into each other.
Shemie often finds a minimalistic groove and lets the vocal draw the focus over top of it. The vocals here sound less like Clinic’s Ade Blackburn thanks to a woozy vocal effect that pastes itself to Shemie’s voice for the majority of the songs. In the album closer “The River” a sludgy effect takes over the vocal so that the words are lost and the voice sounds like an ominous alien message. Here the voice becomes the manipulated element that surges over the minimal backdrop. After the alien element is introduced, both vocal presences take turns in a twisted call and response. The different vocal effects cannot overlap since they’re both Shemie, but he shifts effortlessly between the disparate vocal modes so it sounds like there’s another singer present on the track. There’s always balance between the vocals and the other elements on the album. Organic and mechanical, angelic and grimey. When the vocal drops out, Shemie often switches to frantic manipulation of electronic sounds, creating visceral moments of chaos. The wonky improvisation makes the songs sound more organic. It’s clear that Shemie isn’t playing a carefully constructed part, but rather experimenting live as everything is recorded. This experimentation builds tension and provides a perfect foil to the moments of eerie minimalism.
The absence of guitar and real drums and the addition of various electronic sounds differentiates this project from Shemie’s work with Suuns, but the album doesn’t feel like an attempt to abandon the band and its fans. It's faithful to them, but it relies on different instruments to get the job done. A Single Point of Light succeeds by branching off of the work that Suuns have done while still carving out its own spot. It’s not like Chad Vangaalen’s Black Mold or even Sufjan Stevens’ electronic albums like Age of Adz where the artist’s electronic output bears little resemblance to the artist’s other work. These songs would fit on a playlist with the Suuns albums, but they don’t feel like they’re missing anything on their own. Like indie electronic offshoots such as Damaged Bug, or the solo albums from Animal Collective’s Avey Tare and Panda Bear, Ben Shemie establishes his own identity with his solo work. There’s a good chance Suuns fans will dig A Single Point of Light, and for some listeners, its all-electronic landscape may scratch an itch that the art rock of Suuns can’t quite reach.
- Devon Dozlaw
Little Kid
Transfiguration Highway // Solitaire Recordings
Based out of Toronto, Little Kid has been on the music scene since 2009. Transfiguration Highway, is their latest album released on July 3rd, presenting a diverse sonic palette filled with deep cutting introspective songwriting and toe-tapping indie folk jaunts. Little Kid signed with a label for the first time for the album, working with Brooklyn indie Solitaire Recordings (Kate Davis, Common Holly) to release an album that sees a rare songwriting talent deliver on the promise of frontman Kenny Boothby’s earlier work on an expanded scale.
Boothby seems to have a penchant for Christian imagery throughout the album. ‘I Thought That You’d Been Raptured’ starts off the album on solid footing with an uplifting beat and catchy harmonica hooks. The song showcases an almost fabel-like narrative songwriting style as it relates a story from the perspective of a character who comes home early from work to find his wife’s clothes in the living room and initially believes that she has been raptured, only to discover she is having an affair.
‘All Night (Golden Ring)’ is a lovely duet with band member Megan Lunn about country stars Tammy Wynette and George Jones. As Boothby explains, he was a fan of their records but found his view changed when he found out that their album was recorded after Wynette and Jones had divorced due to Jones’ abusive behaviour. The singers recorded together for purely commercial reasons afterwards with many of their songs reaching #1 on the charts. “The song explores how that must have felt for Tammy,” says Boothby. “I can’t relate directly, but as a survivor of abuse, I can only imagine what it would feel like to have to sing with my abuser, much less to have to sing love songs with him and act like everything is OK.”
Joined by Megan Lunn (banjo, keys, vocals), Paul Vroom (bass and vocals), Liam Cole (drums) and Brodie Germain (drums, guitar, percussion), Little Kid has built a cult audience with a series of idiosyncratic home recordings, self-released in short cassette runs that range from more traditional albums and EPs, to 2019’s Botched Restorations - on which Boothby sold out a run of one-of-a-kind 60 minute cassettes that each contained 10 songs from his discography, chosen by the purchaser and recorded live to tape in his bedroom.
“In my mind, the Transfiguration Highway is a road that runs from my hometown of Petrolia, through the small southern Ontario towns I grew up in, through to larger and larger Ontario cities, like London, until it reaches me here in Toronto. Along that path, there’s a movement from quiet to loud. From slow to fast. From God to godlessness. From unique and charming houses to mundane condos. The path then stretches on to the north and to the east to Marmora, a place I’ve never visited but one that I’ve become entranced by. I’ve come to view it as some kind of beckoning light further down the highway…”
Beautiful, soothing and rich with imagery, Transfiguration Highway is a lovely album showcasing some exceptional musicians and songwriting.
- Mo Lawrance
