Brooklyn chillwavers Small Black have detailed their first new album in five years. The 11-track Cheap Dreams arrives April 9 through the band's own 100% Electronica label.
Described as a "Long Island gothic surf epic," Cheap Dreams is being teased with "Duplex," which arrives alongside a Ryan Draybuck-directed stop-motion film that brings its eerie cover art to life.
"We finished writing & recording 'Duplex' way before the world shut down last March," lead singer Josh Kolenik explained in a statement, "but the lyrics seemed oddly prophetic to me as we were doing the final mix. 'Walking in the house alone / Pray on the ottoman / Amen for one' I was originally thinking about the absurdity of feeling alone amid the 9 million of us in NYC and yet suddenly, we were all isolated without much of a choice in the matter.
"In those weeks spent listening to the quiet out our Brooklyn windows, only broken by the occasional siren, unsure where the city or the world was headed, the song took on a new meaning."
Cheap Dreams follows Small Black's 2015 album Best Blues. The record's aforementioned wavy nature is said to be a tribute to Kolenik's late uncle, a passionate surfer whose attic in Long Island was used in recording 2010 debut New Chain. A press release points out that "a good chunk of the record is about his life and how it reflects on the band's choice to try to live out theirs as musicians."
Cheap Dreams:
1. Tampa
2. Duplex
3. Postcard
4. Waterworks
5. Driftwood Fire
6. The Bridge
7. Service Merchandise
8. Cheap Dreams
9. Nobody Loves You
10. Dunes
11. Song to Ruin
Pre-order Cheap Dreams.
Described as a "Long Island gothic surf epic," Cheap Dreams is being teased with "Duplex," which arrives alongside a Ryan Draybuck-directed stop-motion film that brings its eerie cover art to life.
"We finished writing & recording 'Duplex' way before the world shut down last March," lead singer Josh Kolenik explained in a statement, "but the lyrics seemed oddly prophetic to me as we were doing the final mix. 'Walking in the house alone / Pray on the ottoman / Amen for one' I was originally thinking about the absurdity of feeling alone amid the 9 million of us in NYC and yet suddenly, we were all isolated without much of a choice in the matter.
"In those weeks spent listening to the quiet out our Brooklyn windows, only broken by the occasional siren, unsure where the city or the world was headed, the song took on a new meaning."
Cheap Dreams follows Small Black's 2015 album Best Blues. The record's aforementioned wavy nature is said to be a tribute to Kolenik's late uncle, a passionate surfer whose attic in Long Island was used in recording 2010 debut New Chain. A press release points out that "a good chunk of the record is about his life and how it reflects on the band's choice to try to live out theirs as musicians."
Cheap Dreams:
1. Tampa
2. Duplex
3. Postcard
4. Waterworks
5. Driftwood Fire
6. The Bridge
7. Service Merchandise
8. Cheap Dreams
9. Nobody Loves You
10. Dunes
11. Song to Ruin
Pre-order Cheap Dreams.
