Transifiguration Highway＜Colored Vinyl＞

On their label debut, Toronto folk-rock outfit Little Kid take a gently sprawling and imaginative odyssey through states of the spirit, heart, and mind. Having flown under the radar for nearly a decade, the Ontario band have earned a devoted cult following eager to seek out their extended catalog of limited-run D.I.Y. cassettes, EPs, and self-released full-lengths. Their signing to Brooklyn indie Solitaire Records is timely since it should provide some much-deserved coverage for Transfiguration Highway, Little Kids sixth album overall. In frontman Kenny Boothby, they possess an emotionally literate and deeply engaging songwriter who continues his career-long exploration of Christian mysticism, personal transformation, and creative growth here. In spite of the frequent references to Christian imagery, Little Kid manage to eschew the sometimes detrimental Christian band label, folding their spiritual seeking into a bigger ongoing piece of art, much like Sufjan Stevens and Pedro the Lion did in decades past. Musically, they run the gamut from the rolling Bob Dylan-inspired opener, I Thought That Youd Been Raptured, to the rollicking indie rock of Thief on the Cross and warmly lonesome indie folk missives like All Night (Golden Ring), the latter of which heavily features the bands second vocalist, Megan Lunn. Threading through all of this is Boothbys penchant for experimental recording techniques, which creates a unique sonic backdrop of ambient sound, loops, anxious discord, and moments of strange elegance. Like the figurative road of its title, Transfiguration Highway follows a winding path with an emphasis on the journey rather than a destination. ~ Timothy Monger