Little Champion is the Asheville, NC-based music project of Dustin Goldklang. Of “Drive” he says: “In May of 2023, I had a dream. In this dream, I was at a Taylor Swift show, and she played a song that doesn’t exist in real life. When I woke up I tried to learn it, and this finger-picking guitar part is as close as I could come. I quickly wrote the lyrics to (only) the second half of the chorus, and then this seed of a song sat on the shelf for awhile. More than a year later, I dusted it off and finished making this dream song. Drive. A pop song about driving.”
I can definitely hear a touch of Taylor here. But I also get a smidgen of Biffy Clyro at their poppiest, as well as a sprinkling of the wonky indie tones of bands like Modest Mouse, along with a little of the sheen of The Shins, and a good dose of Kimya Dawson or Only Son’s anti-folk style of storytelling.
There’s a tongue-in-cheek quality to the whimsical songwriting and musicality across all 3 of these songs that makes for a very easy, breezy, low and lazy, rock-pop listen. These tunes will burrow their way into the brain of the listener and have them humming along for the foreseeable.
“I could use a jump start” Goldklang sings at the start of the titular track. Play this EP first thing in the morning, after your shower and whilst you drink your morning coffee and it’ll start you off just right.
Written by Kinda Grizzly
