by Isiah Schellenberg
Toronto’s Little Kid is back with Transfiguration Highway after releasing Might As Well With My Soul back in 2018. This is the band’s fourth album and first release on Brooklyn’s Solitaire Recordings.
On Transfiguration Highway, the instrumentation is simple but very thoughtful and in detail. There is nothing sparse from the hushed vocal harmonies to the full band arrangements. Everything on this album comes together and compliments itself.
A perfect example of this is “Thief of the Cross” which happens to be the first single released from the album. The song starts with an almost drone like chord progression, but it’s backed together with a shimmery plucked banjo that carries throughout the song. Then the chorus comes howling in with everything happening at once which makes a catchy hook. Even the quieter moments on the album still have a big impact like on ‘’Candles out”. The song is just vocals and piano, and it is the shortest song. The piano has a blissful tone and a peaceful melody. In the background of the song you can hear flickering notes that make their way in through the quiet ending.
The lyrics on the album are a mix of religious references and real-life situations.“It really is amazing I don’t know how you do it, never much for playing but you always had a way with losing”. This is from the song “Losing” — it shows the frustration of loss even knowing that it could happen.
Throughout the 11 tracks, this album describes the feeling of going down a road that starts with a feeling of loss and uncertainty to seeing growth and understanding changes. This album has a way of portraying those feelings well.