LIVE MUSIC: SMALL BLACK at The Surf Lodge

Noisy yet wistful electro-indie pop group Small Black started with a name and worked backwards: a housemate of singer/multi-instrumentalist Josh Kolenik came up with the moniker on a cold Portland, Oregon night. The name stuck when he returned to Long Island, New York and began collaborating with Ryan Heyner, an area musician who shared mutual friends with Kolenik. The pair holed up in Kolenik’s uncle’s attic to record songs with vintage keyboards and samplers, spending the winter of 2008-2009 recording as Uncle Matt made surfboards underneath them. Juan Pieczanski and Jeff Curtin from Kolenik’s previous band, Slowlands, came into the mix early on, adding production and songwriting and filling out the band’s live sounds. Small Black released their self-titled five-song EP on their own CassClub label in October 2009, and released the U.K. single “Despicable Dogs,” as well as a video for that song featuring Uncle Matt, soon after. The band played several dates at that years CMJ Music Marathon. Small Black signed to Jagjaguwar Records, who reissued the bands debut EP with two bonus tracks in 2010. That year, the band also released a split single with the like-minded Washed Out, with whom Small Black also went on tour.