Toronto DIY Outfit Little Kid Share Shoegaze Single “John Arnott”

Toronto DIY mainstays Little Kid have shared their first single since their 2020 album Transfiguration Highway. Since forming back in 2011, the group lead by Kenny Boothby have released five albums in total, and their latest single “John Arnott” is the introduction to their next chapter. Inspired by an influential pastor from the ’90s in Toronto, “John Arnott” is a fuzz-rock song centered around a Pixies-like hook and Boothby’s droning vocals.

In keeping with the Christian themes that are often central to Boothby’s songs, “John Arnott” is a song about Pastor John Arnott, a central figure in a ’90s charismatic Christian revival centered around the Toronto Airport Vineyard Church known as the Toronto Blessing.

“The song is inspired by Pastor John Arnott, who started the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship in Toronto, the site of the so-called Toronto Blessing – a charismatic Christian revival in the 90s and early 00s,” says Boothby. “I actually traveled up from Petrolia with my family to attend a service there, and later learned my partner was attending at the same time (though we didn’t meet until about 15 years later). Most of the churches I attended in my teens and early adulthood were led by pastors inspired by the movement that started at TACF: focused on performing miracles, receiving the Gifts of the Spirit, having direct spiritual experiences with God – frankly, they were all a bit ‘out there.‘”

Keeping with the theme of eccentricity and showmanship, “John Arnott” builds with each chorus into a wall of guitars and distorted fuzz, before shifting into a sweeping, lush verse. Clocking in just under the seven minute mark, the post-rock and shoegaze influences come out strong on the second half, making way for effects pedal stomping solo to bring it to a close.