クイックビュー
{"id":8340108312826,"title":"Little Kid \/\/ A Million Easy Payments LP [BLACK \/ COLOR] \/ TAPE","handle":"little-kid-a-million-easy-payments-lp-black-color-tape","description":"\u003cp\u003eカナダ・トロントのシンガーソングライターKenny Boothby率いるフォーク・ロックバンドLittle Kidが、2024年2月にアメリカ・シカゴのインディーレーベルOrindal Recordsからリリースしたアルバムです。\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eギターやバンジョー、フルート、チェロ、ペダルスティールとクレバーな歌詞によるインディー・フォークロック8曲を収録。DLコード付属。\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLPは歌詞インサート付属。黒盤とマーブル盤がございます。\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e以下、Rosie Stocktonによる解説です。\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"カメラは被写体に群がることなくズームインする。他人のダメージを歌った歌は、自分のダメージを理解する助けとなり、新たな謎へと導いてくれる。星は砂粒のように見える。Little Kidのニューアルバムであり、Orindalでのデビュー作である『A Million Easy Payments』では、Kenny Boothbyの声の切迫感が、あらゆる角度や露出から人生に迫ってくる壮大なバラードや回想、自己反省の限界に突き進み、それを少し超えるような歌詞の賭けとマッチしている。バンドの軽快なフォーク・ロック・アレンジがKenny Boothbyの物語を支え、時折、チェロのサンプル、ペダルスティール、フルート、エレクトリックピアノが飛び交い、物語を空高く持ち上げる。信心深さに煮詰まることもなく、痛みを美化することもない、鬱屈とフラストレーションのレコードである。壊れやすく、豊かで、血の通ったレコードだ。\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eミニマリズムの作曲、エミリー・ディキンソンの詩、フランケンサーラーの絵画、初期のスフジャン・スティーヴンス、あるいはLittle Kidの新しいレーベルメイトであるOrindalの曲のように、『A Million Easy Payments』は、シンプルという外見的なイメージの下に、質感と意味がちりばめられている点で素晴らしい。羊の皮をかぶった孔雀だ。その叙情的で音楽的な密度は、決して明瞭さや印象的なメロディーを犠牲にしていない。お気に入りの映画や小説のように、『A Million Easy Payments』を何度も読み返すのは、その美しさを楽しむためであると同時に、毎回新たな発見があるからだ。\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBoothbyの文章は、愛、不在、停滞、そして変化に満ちており、しばしばキリスト教思想のレンズを通して屈折し、友人、元恋人、日常の人々、そして聖書の登場人物たちによって経験される。Bad Energyの後半では、Boothbyが「12人の男と仲良くしていても、頬にキスされただけで殺されるかもしれない」と冗談を言う。Eggshell(卵の殻)」では、幽霊が未亡人に自分の死を振り返る: 救急車がやってきて/ハイウェイを鳴り響くサイレンを鳴らしながら/君の人生に微笑みの沈黙を残していったよ、ベイビー。下降するメロディーに織り込まれた \"I \"の音。Boothbyの軽やかなテナー。ギターの2車線。\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e『A Million Easy Payments』全体を通して、Boothbyの器用さ、リズム、内韻の巧みさ、詩的な響きを聴き取る耳は、彼の物語のペーソスに匹敵する。熟練を誇示するためではなく、苦労して得た発見を分かち合うために、言葉は意図的に作られている。自己を文脈の中で、間近で見ようとすること、そしてその探求が無駄であり重要であることを証明すること。神を探し求める。プールは濁っている。期待したほどには反映されていない。\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ciframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SROle0DiiAQ?si=DRgS6oRkRtQFICbF\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e \u003ciframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9w4lYrKBug8?si=rH7x7JpWCRi7OKcX\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e レーベルその他作品は\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/tobirarecords.com\/collections\/orindal\"\u003eこちら\u003c\/a\u003e \/\/\/ Click \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/tobirarecords.com\/collections\/orindal\"\u003ehere\u003c\/a\u003e to see more Orindal Records releases available at Tobira. \n\u003cp\u003e----------------------------\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIncludes DL code. Available as 12\" black and orange vinyl, cassette in norelco case.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTracklist:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1. Something to Say 04:07\u003cbr\u003e2. Bad Energy 07:29\u003cbr\u003e3. Beside Myself 04:43\u003cbr\u003e4. Always Change 05:57\u003cbr\u003e5. Eggshell 03:03\u003cbr\u003e6. Somewhere In Between 04:31\u003cbr\u003e7. Nothing at All 04:21\u003cbr\u003e8. What Qualifies as Silence 09:49\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003eDan Wriggins\u003c\/span\u003e :\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"A camera zooms in without crowding its subject. A song about someone else’s damage helps you understand your own, and puts you on to new mysteries. Stars look like grains of sand. On Little Kid’s new album and Orindal Records debut A Million Easy Payments, the urgency in Kenny Boothby’s voice matches the stakes of his lyrics, epic ballads and reveries that come at life from all angles and exposures, driving at and a little over the limits of self-reflection. The band’s lilting folk rock arrangements carry Boothby’s stories, occasionally lifting them skyward with flurries of cello samples, pedal steel, flute, and electric piano. It’s a record of depression and frustration that doesn’t stew in piety or aestheticize pain, that also explodes with life. Fragile and abundant. It’s a record with blood in its veins. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLittle Kid is a Toronto-based collaborative project that has existed in some form since 2009, and is currently comprised of Brodie Germain (drums, guitar), Paul Vroom (bass), Megan Lunn (vocals, banjo, keyboard), Liam Cole (drums, percussion), and Kenny Boothby (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards). A Million Easy Payments, like the three Little Kid releases before it, was tracked, engineered, and mastered by Vroom. Vroom’s work renders a portrait of\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e Little Kid’s twin musical strengths — as a live act, a straight-ahead folk rock outfit, and as a group of creative, independent producers who want to mess things up. To that end, the record features several guest instruments: Eliza Niemi’s cello, Anh Phung’s flute, Seth Engel’s percussion, Peter Gill’s pedal steel, and Aaron Powell’s voice. Every so often, the boundaries fray. Chaotic flute layers transport the outro to “Beside Myself.” Banjo careens off the edge of “Something to Say.” The kick drum in “Bad Energy” is more than a heartbeat. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLike a minimalist composition, an Emily Dickinson poem, a Frankenthaler painting, early Sufjan Stevens, or the songs of many of Little Kid’s new labelmates at Orindal, A Million Easy Payments is brilliant insofar as it teems with texture and meaning under an outward image of simplicity. A peacock in sheep’s clothing. Its lyrical and musical density never comes at the expense of clarity or striking melodies. Like your favorite movie or novel, you come back to A Million Easy Payments again and again for the pleasure of its beauty, but also because it reveals something new every time. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLittle Kid has always centered around Boothby’s songwriting, and A Million Easy Payments proves his enormous skill many times over. He tackles the extended ballad tradition, zooming in and out with mind-bending control on “Bad Energy”: \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAnd now your engine burns remains of ancient birds \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGo into town to drive around and then leave \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eYou tore a gash right clear through the atmosphere \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAnd now there’s nothing that can buffer the heat \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBut the sun is shining and your love is smiling \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn a moment getting warmed by a beam \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOf bad energy \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBoothby’s writing is charged with love, absence, stagnation and change, often refracted through the lens of Christian thought, experienced by friends, exes, everyday people and Biblical characters. Later on in “Bad Energy,” Boothby jokes “if you’re only friendly with a dozen men\/ one might still kill you with a kiss on the cheek.” In “Eggshell,” a ghost reflects on his own death to his widow, a story based on the death of Boothby’s father: “ambulances came\/ weaving a whining siren down the highway\/ leaving a smiling silence in your life, babe.” The “I” sound woven in descending melodies. Two lanes of Boothby’s airy tenor. Two lanes of guitar. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAcross A Million Easy Payments, Boothby’s dexterity, rhythm, internal rhyming prowess, and ear for poetic sound are matched only by the pathos of his stories. The words are crafted deliberately, not to show off mastery, but to share hard-earned findings. To try and see the self in context and up close, and to prove the inquiry to be both futile and crucial. To dig around for God. The pool is murky. Not as reflective as we’d hoped. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArtist : Little Kid\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLabel : Orindal Records\u003c\/p\u003e","published_at":"2024-04-18T18:01:33+09:00","created_at":"2024-04-18T17:54:06+09:00","vendor":"Tobira Records","type":"","tags":["folk \/ left-field pop","lp","new","orindal","tape"],"price":199500,"price_min":199500,"price_max":398000,"available":true,"price_varies":true,"compare_at_price":null,"compare_at_price_min":0,"compare_at_price_max":0,"compare_at_price_varies":false,"variants":[{"id":45721651151098,"title":"Black LP","option1":"Black 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LP","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":null,"requires_shipping":true,"taxable":true,"featured_image":{"id":41061212356858,"product_id":8340108312826,"position":3,"created_at":"2024-04-18T18:00:12+09:00","updated_at":"2024-04-18T18:00:50+09:00","alt":null,"width":1200,"height":1200,"src":"\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/0034848069_10.jpg?v=1713430850","variant_ids":[45721651183866]},"available":false,"name":"Little Kid \/\/ A Million Easy Payments LP [BLACK \/ COLOR] \/ TAPE - Color LP","public_title":"Color LP","options":["Color LP"],"price":398000,"weight":430,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":"shopify","barcode":null,"featured_media":{"alt":null,"id":33779422757114,"position":3,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":1.0,"height":1200,"width":1200,"src":"\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/0034848069_10.jpg?v=1713430850"}},"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]},{"id":45721651216634,"title":"TAPE","option1":"TAPE","option2":null,"option3":null,"sku":null,"requires_shipping":true,"taxable":true,"featured_image":{"id":41061219827962,"product_id":8340108312826,"position":4,"created_at":"2024-04-18T18:00:40+09:00","updated_at":"2024-04-18T18:00:41+09:00","alt":null,"width":1200,"height":1199,"src":"\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/0035268151_10.jpg?v=1713430841","variant_ids":[45721651216634]},"available":true,"name":"Little Kid \/\/ A Million Easy Payments LP [BLACK \/ COLOR] \/ TAPE - TAPE","public_title":"TAPE","options":["TAPE"],"price":199500,"weight":60,"compare_at_price":null,"inventory_management":"shopify","barcode":null,"featured_media":{"alt":null,"id":33779430228218,"position":4,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":1.001,"height":1199,"width":1200,"src":"\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/0035268151_10.jpg?v=1713430841"}},"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_allocations":[]}],"images":["\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/a3211041672_16.jpg?v=1713430850","\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/0034848073_10.jpg?v=1713430850","\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/0034848069_10.jpg?v=1713430850","\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/0035268151_10.jpg?v=1713430841","\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/0035268155_10.jpg?v=1713430843","\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/IMG_6001.jpg?v=1713502865"],"featured_image":"\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/a3211041672_16.jpg?v=1713430850","options":["Format"],"media":[{"alt":null,"id":33779423150330,"position":1,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":1.0,"height":700,"width":700,"src":"\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/a3211041672_16.jpg?v=1713430850"},"aspect_ratio":1.0,"height":700,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/a3211041672_16.jpg?v=1713430850","width":700},{"alt":null,"id":33779422888186,"position":2,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":1.0,"height":1200,"width":1200,"src":"\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/0034848073_10.jpg?v=1713430850"},"aspect_ratio":1.0,"height":1200,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/0034848073_10.jpg?v=1713430850","width":1200},{"alt":null,"id":33779422757114,"position":3,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":1.0,"height":1200,"width":1200,"src":"\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/0034848069_10.jpg?v=1713430850"},"aspect_ratio":1.0,"height":1200,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/0034848069_10.jpg?v=1713430850","width":1200},{"alt":null,"id":33779430228218,"position":4,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":1.001,"height":1199,"width":1200,"src":"\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/0035268151_10.jpg?v=1713430841"},"aspect_ratio":1.001,"height":1199,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/0035268151_10.jpg?v=1713430841","width":1200},{"alt":null,"id":33779430654202,"position":5,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":0.999,"height":1200,"width":1199,"src":"\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/0035268155_10.jpg?v=1713430843"},"aspect_ratio":0.999,"height":1200,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/0035268155_10.jpg?v=1713430843","width":1199},{"alt":null,"id":33785784762618,"position":6,"preview_image":{"aspect_ratio":1.442,"height":1985,"width":2862,"src":"\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/IMG_6001.jpg?v=1713502865"},"aspect_ratio":1.442,"height":1985,"media_type":"image","src":"\/\/tobirarecords.com\/cdn\/shop\/files\/IMG_6001.jpg?v=1713502865","width":2862}],"requires_selling_plan":false,"selling_plan_groups":[],"content":"\u003cp\u003eカナダ・トロントのシンガーソングライターKenny Boothby率いるフォーク・ロックバンドLittle Kidが、2024年2月にアメリカ・シカゴのインディーレーベルOrindal Recordsからリリースしたアルバムです。\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eギターやバンジョー、フルート、チェロ、ペダルスティールとクレバーな歌詞によるインディー・フォークロック8曲を収録。DLコード付属。\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLPは歌詞インサート付属。黒盤とマーブル盤がございます。\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e以下、Rosie Stocktonによる解説です。\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"カメラは被写体に群がることなくズームインする。他人のダメージを歌った歌は、自分のダメージを理解する助けとなり、新たな謎へと導いてくれる。星は砂粒のように見える。Little Kidのニューアルバムであり、Orindalでのデビュー作である『A Million Easy Payments』では、Kenny Boothbyの声の切迫感が、あらゆる角度や露出から人生に迫ってくる壮大なバラードや回想、自己反省の限界に突き進み、それを少し超えるような歌詞の賭けとマッチしている。バンドの軽快なフォーク・ロック・アレンジがKenny Boothbyの物語を支え、時折、チェロのサンプル、ペダルスティール、フルート、エレクトリックピアノが飛び交い、物語を空高く持ち上げる。信心深さに煮詰まることもなく、痛みを美化することもない、鬱屈とフラストレーションのレコードである。壊れやすく、豊かで、血の通ったレコードだ。\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eミニマリズムの作曲、エミリー・ディキンソンの詩、フランケンサーラーの絵画、初期のスフジャン・スティーヴンス、あるいはLittle Kidの新しいレーベルメイトであるOrindalの曲のように、『A Million Easy Payments』は、シンプルという外見的なイメージの下に、質感と意味がちりばめられている点で素晴らしい。羊の皮をかぶった孔雀だ。その叙情的で音楽的な密度は、決して明瞭さや印象的なメロディーを犠牲にしていない。お気に入りの映画や小説のように、『A Million Easy Payments』を何度も読み返すのは、その美しさを楽しむためであると同時に、毎回新たな発見があるからだ。\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBoothbyの文章は、愛、不在、停滞、そして変化に満ちており、しばしばキリスト教思想のレンズを通して屈折し、友人、元恋人、日常の人々、そして聖書の登場人物たちによって経験される。Bad Energyの後半では、Boothbyが「12人の男と仲良くしていても、頬にキスされただけで殺されるかもしれない」と冗談を言う。Eggshell(卵の殻)」では、幽霊が未亡人に自分の死を振り返る: 救急車がやってきて/ハイウェイを鳴り響くサイレンを鳴らしながら/君の人生に微笑みの沈黙を残していったよ、ベイビー。下降するメロディーに織り込まれた \"I \"の音。Boothbyの軽やかなテナー。ギターの2車線。\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e『A Million Easy Payments』全体を通して、Boothbyの器用さ、リズム、内韻の巧みさ、詩的な響きを聴き取る耳は、彼の物語のペーソスに匹敵する。熟練を誇示するためではなく、苦労して得た発見を分かち合うために、言葉は意図的に作られている。自己を文脈の中で、間近で見ようとすること、そしてその探求が無駄であり重要であることを証明すること。神を探し求める。プールは濁っている。期待したほどには反映されていない。\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ciframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SROle0DiiAQ?si=DRgS6oRkRtQFICbF\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e \u003ciframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9w4lYrKBug8?si=rH7x7JpWCRi7OKcX\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e レーベルその他作品は\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/tobirarecords.com\/collections\/orindal\"\u003eこちら\u003c\/a\u003e \/\/\/ Click \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/tobirarecords.com\/collections\/orindal\"\u003ehere\u003c\/a\u003e to see more Orindal Records releases available at Tobira. \n\u003cp\u003e----------------------------\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIncludes DL code. Available as 12\" black and orange vinyl, cassette in norelco case.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTracklist:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1. Something to Say 04:07\u003cbr\u003e2. Bad Energy 07:29\u003cbr\u003e3. Beside Myself 04:43\u003cbr\u003e4. Always Change 05:57\u003cbr\u003e5. Eggshell 03:03\u003cbr\u003e6. Somewhere In Between 04:31\u003cbr\u003e7. Nothing at All 04:21\u003cbr\u003e8. What Qualifies as Silence 09:49\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003eDan Wriggins\u003c\/span\u003e :\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"A camera zooms in without crowding its subject. A song about someone else’s damage helps you understand your own, and puts you on to new mysteries. Stars look like grains of sand. On Little Kid’s new album and Orindal Records debut A Million Easy Payments, the urgency in Kenny Boothby’s voice matches the stakes of his lyrics, epic ballads and reveries that come at life from all angles and exposures, driving at and a little over the limits of self-reflection. The band’s lilting folk rock arrangements carry Boothby’s stories, occasionally lifting them skyward with flurries of cello samples, pedal steel, flute, and electric piano. It’s a record of depression and frustration that doesn’t stew in piety or aestheticize pain, that also explodes with life. Fragile and abundant. It’s a record with blood in its veins. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLittle Kid is a Toronto-based collaborative project that has existed in some form since 2009, and is currently comprised of Brodie Germain (drums, guitar), Paul Vroom (bass), Megan Lunn (vocals, banjo, keyboard), Liam Cole (drums, percussion), and Kenny Boothby (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards). A Million Easy Payments, like the three Little Kid releases before it, was tracked, engineered, and mastered by Vroom. Vroom’s work renders a portrait of\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e Little Kid’s twin musical strengths — as a live act, a straight-ahead folk rock outfit, and as a group of creative, independent producers who want to mess things up. To that end, the record features several guest instruments: Eliza Niemi’s cello, Anh Phung’s flute, Seth Engel’s percussion, Peter Gill’s pedal steel, and Aaron Powell’s voice. Every so often, the boundaries fray. Chaotic flute layers transport the outro to “Beside Myself.” Banjo careens off the edge of “Something to Say.” The kick drum in “Bad Energy” is more than a heartbeat. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLike a minimalist composition, an Emily Dickinson poem, a Frankenthaler painting, early Sufjan Stevens, or the songs of many of Little Kid’s new labelmates at Orindal, A Million Easy Payments is brilliant insofar as it teems with texture and meaning under an outward image of simplicity. A peacock in sheep’s clothing. Its lyrical and musical density never comes at the expense of clarity or striking melodies. Like your favorite movie or novel, you come back to A Million Easy Payments again and again for the pleasure of its beauty, but also because it reveals something new every time. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLittle Kid has always centered around Boothby’s songwriting, and A Million Easy Payments proves his enormous skill many times over. He tackles the extended ballad tradition, zooming in and out with mind-bending control on “Bad Energy”: \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAnd now your engine burns remains of ancient birds \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGo into town to drive around and then leave \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eYou tore a gash right clear through the atmosphere \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAnd now there’s nothing that can buffer the heat \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBut the sun is shining and your love is smiling \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIn a moment getting warmed by a beam \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOf bad energy \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eBoothby’s writing is charged with love, absence, stagnation and change, often refracted through the lens of Christian thought, experienced by friends, exes, everyday people and Biblical characters. Later on in “Bad Energy,” Boothby jokes “if you’re only friendly with a dozen men\/ one might still kill you with a kiss on the cheek.” In “Eggshell,” a ghost reflects on his own death to his widow, a story based on the death of Boothby’s father: “ambulances came\/ weaving a whining siren down the highway\/ leaving a smiling silence in your life, babe.” The “I” sound woven in descending melodies. Two lanes of Boothby’s airy tenor. Two lanes of guitar. \u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAcross A Million Easy Payments, Boothby’s dexterity, rhythm, internal rhyming prowess, and ear for poetic sound are matched only by the pathos of his stories. The words are crafted deliberately, not to show off mastery, but to share hard-earned findings. To try and see the self in context and up close, and to prove the inquiry to be both futile and crucial. To dig around for God. The pool is murky. Not as reflective as we’d hoped. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArtist : Little Kid\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLabel : Orindal Records\u003c\/p\u003e"}