Small Black – Limits of Desire: 10th Anniversary Edition 2LP Jagjaguwar Records

Small Black is celebrating ten years of their beloved record, Limits of Desire, by releasing a deluxe 2xLP reissue of the 2013 LP. The new edition features the full original Limits of Desire LP, out of print for a few years, along with 5 unreleased b-sides from the era and the companion Real People EP. Additionally, the band is headed out on a US tour in October to play the record in full, along with other favorites from the catalog.

After starting off in their Long Island attic, the band had left the Brooklyn warehouse scene & toured the world extensively. Written, recorded, and mixed by Small Black at their home studio in Brooklyn over the whole of 2012, Limits is a more widescreen shot of the intimate synth-pop of Small Black’s first few releases. “We went on a real vision quest for this LP, making double-digit versions of some tracks, a few you’ll hear on the reissue,” adds singer Josh Kolenik.

Limits of Desire has become the quintessential Small Black LP over the decade since its release, accruing 100m+ streams and fueling hundreds of concert dates across the world. The iconic cover art of a couple on a ladder above an alligator, taken by artist Scarlet Hooft Graafland, ending up as the source material for many fan tattoos. Bolstered by the success of singles, No Stranger & Breathless, the LP laid out the sophistipop road map for the next decade of the band.

The additional material for the reissue is highlighted by Collections, a song the band had been sitting on for the decade since Limits came out. It gets at the same suburban sadness that runs through the later LPs, referencing the collecting mania of the 1990s, pre-Ebay. “It seemed every one of my friends and family was finding satisfaction in “finishing the set.”All of us collected in the same fences & lawns of a community that had only really been there for a few generations,” adds Kolenik.