New Music From Arms
HEAVE gives you some finger snapping fun.
Posted by Joe Roth on Oct 02, 2008 @ 7:00 am
Too bad it's already Fall because this song would have been a perfect companion to one of my many summertime strolls along the beach this past year. Brooklyn based band Arms is the project of song-writer and guitarist Todd Goldstein. Goldstein spends most of his time playing guitar in NYC band Harlem Snakes. Thankfully he found some time in between to record his debut album Kids Aflame. Produced over three years and in various apartment buildings across NYC, Kids Aflame taps into lo-fi country, shoegaze and 60's reverb.
The name for the group was inspired by a British rapper named Ears. Goldstein also liked the idea of being named after body parts - so Arms it was. Like many groups these days, Myspace played a role and Manchester UK based Melodic Records became fast friends with Arms.
The image of children on fire is not usually the most pleasing feeling to have, yet Goldstein turns these bad vibes into a melodic finger snapping pop gem that the Mama's and the Papa's might have recorded. His lilting but commanding voice might make you think of Michael Stipe, or maybe even Guadalcanal Diary's Murray Attaway, performing at their most vulnerable. And if you listen close enough, you can hear the swirling sounds of the city wafting in from an open window, sirens and all.