(le) poisson rouge

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.