Todd Goldstein spent the last few years playing guitar in the Brooklyn indie-pop band Harlem Shakes. To those who were listening closely, though, Goldstein has always also been ARMS, a persona he’s been crafting since 2004. As ARMS, Todd takes up a decidedly slower, sweeter, sloppier endeavor, working alone and singing in a sad, idiosyncratic baritone. ARMS’ debut full-length, Kids Aflame—previously available only in the UK, and now released in the US by Gigantic Music—is a labor of love by an artist with an ear for the beauty in noise, the primacy of melody, and the timelessness of melancholy pop music.
"A fine debut album matching both the romantic streak of Conor Oberst and multi-instrumental sophistication of Sufjan Stevens" --Q Magazine (**** 'Recommended')
"Arms' music is lo-fi but lovely and very, very good. There's truly not a bad song on here. 'Kids Aflame' rocks, shudders, weeps, and smiles as you reach to hit 'play' again."
--The Guardian (UK)
"[Arms] readily demonstrates a knack for the slowly building, triumphant-sounding anthem that's still a little downbeat no matter what." --AllMusic.com
"I'm always hesitant to make claims about the year's best albums, but I just can't help myself here. Kids Aflame is just as lovely, complex, jarring, rocking, and re-playable as we could have hoped, and although it may be early in the year, you can expect this one way up there on our year-end list come December." --IGuessI'mFloating
Todd - You and Mother Mother on 30th August will make an ace show! It's on Matt (Windmill)'s birthday too so maybe we should come - I'm jealous - come back over to London sometime and bring Mother Mother with you!
