"I may never know what went wrong..."
Sometimes it is easier to beat yourself up than to confront the demons, bullies and false prophets set firmly on pedestals that you run into in your lifetime. I thought about that when listening to the bending emotionality of "tiny bottles" by Little Champion, the Asheville, NC-based music project of Dustin Goldklang and from his recently released album "Curiosity". Dustin's poetic thrust, full of self-deprecation and through the lens of cracked rose colored glasses is set to a wonderful easy cadence with electric guitar shapes that stagger and stop, embrace and push away. I love the guitar rhythms that almost feel like a counter conversation to Dustin's lyrical patter, the tensions and free spirited construction here feel sort of Stephen Malmus-esque which is a great thing.
https://www.instagram.com/littlechampionband/
Little Champion is the Asheville, NC-based music project of Dustin Goldklang. Drawing influence from the anti-folk scene in NYC (Jeffrey Lewis, Kimya Dawson), underground indie pop from The Pacific Northwest (The Microphones, LAKE), DIY pop-punk (Delay, The Ergs), and mainstream pop (Carly Rae Jepsen), Goldklang has developed a style of songwriting that is bursting with dichotomy: fluid yet structured, thoughtful yet goofy, sad yet funny. After having spent his late teens and early 20s touring the diy folk-punk house-show circuit under his previous moniker (Dustin and the Furniture), Goldklang took a step back from music for awhile. Adulthood can be distracting like that. But in 2021, he was reminded of the importance of making songs, and, with plenty of time at home to pick up guitars again, Little Champion was formed. On Little Champion’s debut album, “Curiosity”, Goldklang showcases his DIY-ethic, as he recorded, produced, and mixed the album himself in a makeshift home studio above his garage. The bedroom-pop vibe adds to the record’s charm. While the tracks on “Curiosity” range in genre from acoustic folk to indie rock to pop-punk, there is a cohesive throughline of exploration and… curiosity. As Goldklang points out, “There is at least one explicit question in every song.” “Curiosity” is out March 7th, 2023.
Little Champion, Asheville North Carolina, folk, indie rock, bedroom pop, singer songwriter, DIY aesthetic, new album "Curiosity", "tiny bottles", self produced, home studio above the garage, existential dread,
If I can be so forward, the charm here is not only the guitar and vocal melodies but the overall melancholia and the lyrics that sometimes feel socially awkward like a section in the chorus "...memories pay dividends, whatever happens you're one of them" which feels like an intended complement but if meant to be sweet or romantic falls hopelessly flat and therein lies the charming awkwardness. Dustin paints some wonderful imagery and dips into a fair amount of existential dread, something I am fond of doing myself. I love the opening line: "We dipped down below I thought we were special but it was just you" and the thought of those tiny bottles, "there's a dark moon on the backstreet, tiny bottles in our pockets".
In the end I think "tiny bottles" will be a song that makes you feel more things, stir up more memories each time you listen.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.instagram.com/littlechampionband/
Little Champion is the Asheville, NC-based music project of Dustin Goldklang. Drawing influence from the anti-folk scene in NYC (Jeffrey Lewis, Kimya Dawson), underground indie pop from The Pacific Northwest (The Microphones, LAKE), DIY pop-punk (Delay, The Ergs), and mainstream pop (Carly Rae Jepsen), Goldklang has developed a style of songwriting that is bursting with dichotomy: fluid yet structured, thoughtful yet goofy, sad yet funny. After having spent his late teens and early 20s touring the diy folk-punk house-show circuit under his previous moniker (Dustin and the Furniture), Goldklang took a step back from music for awhile. Adulthood can be distracting like that. But in 2021, he was reminded of the importance of making songs, and, with plenty of time at home to pick up guitars again, Little Champion was formed. On Little Champion’s debut album, “Curiosity”, Goldklang showcases his DIY-ethic, as he recorded, produced, and mixed the album himself in a makeshift home studio above his garage. The bedroom-pop vibe adds to the record’s charm. While the tracks on “Curiosity” range in genre from acoustic folk to indie rock to pop-punk, there is a cohesive throughline of exploration and… curiosity. As Goldklang points out, “There is at least one explicit question in every song.” “Curiosity” is out March 7th, 2023.
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