Singles

Arms - Kids Aflame

Ross Cunningham 08/11/2008

Rating: 4/5

Arms otherwise known as New York based Todd Goldstein releases his new single "Kids Aflame” on the 10th of November. Goldstein is obviously a very talented musician who now seems to be hitting somewhat of a creative purple patch being involved in not one, not two, but three musical projects (Arms, The Sea & The Gulls, and Harlem Shakes).“ Arms has been likened to artists such as “Conor Oberst” and The Smiths, but for me “Kids Aflame” has more in common with something from Beirut's “Elephant Gun”.

There's a lot to like here, A beautiful hollow acoustic sound chimes throughout on a ukulele while Todd's vocals are sweeping and dreamy. Lyrically the track blossoms on repeated listens and I've found myself randomly projecting them out of my mouth on more than one occasion. All of this along with a ridiculously catchy backing of repeated “ba, da, da ba, ba ba's” ensures that the 3 minutes 15 seconds of “Kids Aflame” oozes Lo-fi charm.

Describing what he'd like the band to achieve Todd offered “I'd like Arms to keep lonely people company. That's about it, really”, with “Kids Aflame” I'd venture to say that he's succeeded with his plan.