I’m a newcomer to Toronto-based band Little Kid, who, up until now, have managed to build up a cult audience with a series of idiosyncratic home recordings, self-released in short cassette runs. This included 2019’s Botched Restorations – on which Little Kid’s Kenny 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.
For their latest album, Transfiguration Highway (a title I’ll come onto in a second), they broke with tradition and signed with a label for the first time, working with buzzing Brooklyn indie Solitaire Recordings (Kate Davis, Common Holly) to release an album that sees a rare songwriting talent deliver on the promise of his earlier work on an expanded scale.
Rather than lend self-interpretation, this is straight from the album press:
“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…”
In a shifting world, Little Kid’s Kenny Boothby finds himself inspired by this idea of transfiguration – a complete change of form or appearance into a more beautiful or spiritual state. The band’s forthcoming album, Transfiguration Highway, is a thoughtful reflection on revelation and change, both spiritual and lived. Through the lens of a long standing fascination with Christian mysticism, the album title suggests a reflection of Boothby’s own process of personal growth, the way that growth has changed his perception of the world, and how that has combined with the material change of the world around him to alter the way his past relates to his present.
For fans of “very laid back, 60s/70s Canadiana circa Neil Young and the Band but also Hiss Golden Messenger or Whitney”, take a listen to their latest single Losing…
Pre-Order Transfiguration Highway here: https://www.solitairerecordings.com/all-merch?category=Little+Kid
Pre-Save on your stream/Digital Service: https://littlekid.ffm.to/transfigurationhighway