With the release of Small Black’s Limits of Desire earlier this month and a tour kick-off in Boston, cialis lead singer Josh Kolenik spoke to us about the Brooklyn indie band’s evolving sound, mind not being defined by genre, vialis 40mg and Anna’s Taqueria. Check out Small Black this Wednesday, May 29, 2013, at Brighton Music Hall with Heavenly Beat.

Allston Pudding: Small Black’s first album was the Small Black EP, followed with the first full-length album, New Chain. Then there was the cool, layered, sampled sounds of the mixtape, Moon Killer. I was curious how the new album, Limits of Desire, built upon the interesting layering groundwork of the previous releases. Limits of Desire seems to kind of cut through the fuzz a little bit.

Josh Kolenik: Yeah, definitely.

AP: Was this intentional?

JK: There’s definitely an arc to it. The first recording is very homespun, kind of do-it-yourself. New Chain keeps a lot of those elements but adds bigger songs and beats. The [Moon Killer] mixtape was a chance for us to work with samples, which we can’t really do with an album because we can’t clear them. I think, with doing the mixtape, we experimented a lot and had a lot of fun and tried to get ourselves out of our general comfort zone. With Limits of Desire, we added a lot of professional tricks and added some bigger vocals and things like that.

AP: Does Limits of Desire have any central themes? I kind of got that it’s a sort of loose love story arc that culminates in a song about moving on, “Outskirts.”

JK: Yeah, it does. That’s definitely by design. The first couple of tracks are very hopeful and about new love or a new relationship. Over the course of the record, you kind of experience more of a loss. Then, at the end, “Outskirts” is kind of about cutting your losses.

AP: Was there anything personal informing that or was it kind of just you guys experimenting and this is what came out?

JK: I mean, I think it’s just personal relationship experience over the years. I think, once you’ve had a couple relationships, you develop an interesting perspective. And, when you’ve had time away from them, you’re able to look at them a little more objectively. It takes some time to really get your head around why something worked or didn’t work.

AP: Yeah, I hear that. I also read that Limits of Desire was sort of a response to the ability to play these songs live on guitar. I was wondering if there were issues with the previous recordings and actually playing them live.

JK: The old stuff, especially the EP, is very raw sounding and it’s recorded with this really rinky-dink keyboard beat and it’s not really that — I mean, we’ve always been a live band. We never intended [our music] to just be keyboard and vocals. With [Limits of Desire], we wanted some material that was going to lend itself to the [live] area and that take advantage of our ability as guitar players. We just created some more stuff that’s not so stuck on the keyboard. Because playing keyboard is cool, but it’s not as interesting as playing guitar live [laughs].

AP: The production quality on Limits of Desire is really sharp and crisp, too. I heard that you guys actually produced the record yourselves.

JK: Yeah, we did.

AP: Super impressive! Could you tell me about how it was recorded? How long it took?

JK: It took us about a year. We probably had thirty or forty songs we were working on and gradually kept whittling it down until we had about fifteen. Then we kind of focused more intensely on those. We did it partly in this house out in Delaware that we’d done a lot of New Chain in. Taking a year was really important and it allowed us to keep revisiting things. Some of the songs have had seven or eight versions but it feels good in the end that we’re all in agreement that these last versions are the best ones. This was sort of the first time we used live sounds on a record. I think it’s a lot of those live elements that really take the record out of the last album’s world.

AP: Sort of to bounce off of that, I really think it sounds like you guys have grown into a new sound. I know that it’s tough to pigeonhole Small Black into a certain genre. With the new album, it sort of flies in the face of people who’ve tried to do that. Where do you think Small Black fits? Who do you consider some of your musical peers or influences?

JK: We definitely — the whole chillwave thing…

AP: I was trying to not call it “chillwave”! I’m sorry.

JK: [laughs] No, it’s okay! I’ve gotten over being categorized as the term. There’s music that gets placed into genres… We just wanted the songwriting to shine through and not have to be something that’s totally mode-based or totally tone-based. I like music that’s like that, too, but I think, in the end, I like a good pop song and a good melody.

AP: Any musical influences in particular?

JK: I really love this band from the ‘80s called the Blue Nile from Scotland. I’ve been listening to them and it’s just very tender, loving music. Talk Talk is another big influence. Tears for Fears, Robyn. I listen to a lot of radio rap. I love the production. I wouldn’t say that’s a big influence on the record [laughs]. Maybe on the mixtape. [I listen to] tons of stuff! We listen to a lot of stuff that we can kind of look back to and reference.

AP: So the tour! You guys are currently on tour, right? It kicked off a few weeks ago?

JK: Our first show [of the tour] is in Boston! [laughs] [At Brighton Music Hall! On May 29! Doors open at 8 p.m., show starts at 9 p.m.!]

AP: Oh! I’m sorry! I thought the tour kicked off with the show you guys played at the art gallery in Brooklyn. Could you tell me about the art show you guys had put together?

JK: Yeah, that was just something we put together for the release [of Limits of Desire]. That was kind of the first time hearing the new material for a lot of people.

AP: I thought it was an interesting concept, to play your show while simultaneously showcasing this awesome art. I wondered if you guys had a hand in picking any of the art that was shown. I saw that one of the artists featured was Scarlett Hooft Graafland who’d done Limits of Desire’s cover art.

JK: Yeah, we had a big print of the cover, which was great, without the text, just the original photo. We co-curated it with my girlfriend, Lindsay Aveilhé, because that’s what she does – she’s a curator. It was just a great way to collaborate on something. I thought it was much more interesting of an idea than just doing a release show or a listening party or something. We had the exhibit up for a week. We did a performance the first night of the show, and that was really fun. We worked with Dan Baker [of portl.tv], who did a pretty amazing light show backdrop to the show. A lot of the work is kind of people we’ve collaborated with before, like Morgan Blair, who did [the art on] our first two albums’ covers. There were a lot of artists involved in it that we really like. It was such a positive event – I couldn’t’ve been happier with it. You make music to have those moments where you can really connect with your friends, your fans, and other artists you respect and admire. It was really great and was one of the best things we’ve done.

AP: So the first show of the tour is here in Boston, which is awesome. Aside from it being the kick-off, is there anything you’re excited about in coming back to Boston?

JK: Yeah, I’m gonna hit Anna’s Taqueira.

AP: Nice!

JK: Yeah, that’s the best. I love that place. If we were in Cambridge, I would do — I used to really love Miracle of Science. That place has a killer burger. I hope it’s a nice day – I’d love to wander across the river before the show. Boston in the springtime is definitely ideal.

-Lisa Battiston