There’s no set formula to success in the music industry, especially as an indie band. Success is a relative term, for one, and it may vary drastically between listener, artist, and label. And second, success is part illusion, seemingly achieved to some, and constantly escaped by others. Hearing a band’s music on the radio tells you a lot about their reach or who they are working with, but very little about their actual success. Being signed to a major label, having professional music videos of your work produced, or releasing multiple albums in less than five years are all good signs, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that as band, that you have what you want. Success can be fleeting, and with many listeners today who are just waiting for the next release, hard work and reputation can get lost between albums.
Small Black, however, has been steadily climbing the ladder toward indie rock success. Their first release was in 2009, the six years since have been filled with plenty of touring, writing, recording, and new releases – six EPs and LPs, starting with their Small Black EP with Jagjaguwar in 2009. Then in 2012, Hurricane Sandy tore through New York, and these Brooklynites suffered personal loses. But they’ve showed no signs of slowing down.
Following 2013’s Limits of Desire, they toured nationally to promote it, as well as their 2014 Real People EP. I bought Limits of Desire in advance of a spring 2014 show in Minneapolis, because a favorite band of mine, Snowmine, was opening, and I’d liked the single “No Stranger” that NPR had featured around that time. I didn’t know it then, but one of Small Black’s secrets to success is who they spend their time with. From that spring tour with Snowmine, to the next summer’s tour with Washed Out, to this fall’s road trip with Painted Palms, Small Black keeps its friends close, and great indie bands closer.
These influences by association show up in their own music, and in their latest LP Best Blues, at times it’s almost a collaboration with Washed Out. One of the best in what he does, Ernest Greene knows how to make a consistent sound, and fill album after album with different versions of it. But Washed Out gets a kind of pass in this way, as this cultivated sound is crafted to be both mellow and full, the beat carrying the ear along while the body remains relaxed. Sure, Washed Out has singles, but what Greene is known for are his through compositions that match lush instrumental experimentation with the modern concept of a three or four minute song.
So when Small Black takes a similar approach, it doesn’t translate quite the same. Tunes on Best Blues such as “Between Leos” and “XX Century” are beautiful, in an aural sense, but they muddle up what otherwise is a dynamic album. Josh Kolenik’s vocals are airy and almost effervescent, which layer on lightly atop a complex series of sounds, mitigating the heavy drive of pedals and effects below. While this combination usually works magic, this time he abuses the “eh, eh” motif and certain ways of singing sparsely between words, which only blends songs’ otherwise distinctive elements together.
I can tell that part of this less defined sound comes from elements of 2010’s New Chain coming back into focus, which was more of a through-listen album. It’s just that while Washed Out can get away with an LP being one big, monochromatic painting, Small Black does best in something more akin to a gallery show, with different works in conversation with each other. Limits of Desire did this almost perfectly, and that CD must be close to worn out in my car, after the number of times I listened to it in 2014.
Best Blue‘s singles, however, are standouts. “Nobody Wants It To Happen To You” and “Boys Life” are quintessential Small Black songs, with the lyrics as their own prose and the accompanying video to the latter both thought-provoking and nostalgic (similar to the feel of the video for “No Stranger”). The energy in these tracks is evident. As I’ve seen them live, I can easily imagine them performing on stage, throwing themselves into these songs with excitement (even if Juan Pieczanski, on guitar, is the only one who really moves around). It’s as if these two tunes were meant to happen: add Kolenik, Pieczanski, Ryan Heyner, Jeff Curtin, the year 2015, ice, and blend. Viola! Nutrient-packed Small Black, for your morning commute.
So it’s true: Small Black has a formula for success, for creating songs that are truly their own as a band, and they’ve perfected it in this portion of Best Blues. Yet it’s the innovation a band can deliver that always catches my ear. Towards the end of the album, “Checkpoints” and “Smoke Around the Bend” satisfy that need; they play with the same effects, but with a dynamic beat and direction that is unfamiliar to me. I find myself actively listening to those tracks, and the singles, while others in the middle get lost.
Perhaps my own expectation of success has limited how I view Best Blues, in comparison to their previous releases and reinvention. Yet for the Small Black, this may be their “Personal Best” as the first track hints. It is really something to, as a band, find a formula that fits for who and what you are, and what you sound like. To plateau in this way is by no means a failure – rather, it is an apex. Heck, Best Blues got featured on NPR’s First Listen!
These days though, a whole album of the same thing does not sell as well, or make a name for itself. The key in indie is to create and maintain consistency, and then continue to innovate within it. So as long as Small Black keeps hanging with the best of bands, I have no doubt they’ll find themselves always surrounded by new ideas. Time will tell if they get lost in the abundance of other’s sounds, or reemerge again to a higher peak.
Rating: 3.5/5