Welcome to the world of Kid Lake. In this article you’ll find my review of Kid Lake’s debut EP, as the form wanes, the spirit appears, plus a special interview with Carter Long at the end, and photowork by Neil Shukla throughout. Thank you for reading and I hope you listen with care.
Carter Long is an incredible songwriter and a talented guitarist hailing from Charleston, SC. Their sonic journey entwines within a myriad of my favorite bands ranging from Dawning, to Yawner., to Cry Baby. As Kid Lake, she distills these influences and grapples with questions of identity. as the form wanes, the spirit appears rings out in artistic clarity, and in turn, transparency.
In subject matter, as the form wanes, the spirit appears tackles death directly 3 times (“don’t deserve to die”, “ten years dead”, & “black like a dot on a map that represents death”), a magical number in this project’s context (“country road 3” & “KLTB 333”). Every song falls into one of these two camps. Duality is another theme for this EP- in a binary world hellbent on enunciating what is and what is not, Carter chooses the third, seemingly invisible option. In doing so, Kid Lake weaves authentic and honest songwriting into moments of production genius that distort and manipulate the sound to a new layer of emotion, creating a space for new ideas.
Through the intimacy and intent of A.G. Cook’s production style and the introspective songwriting of artists like Elliott Smith and Lomelda, Kid Lake crafts a sound that she calls “hyper americana”—a genre that blends together traditional folk songwriting with modern, glitchy production. The best example I think of for this would be Alex G’s God Save The Animals (2022).
She has seen a meteoric rise- rocketing to 5k monthly listeners before the EP’s release and climbing past 8k at the time of publishing this. The world awaits.
Track by Track Breakdown
The opening track and third single, “don’t deserve to die” dips between haunting and hypnotic as slack rock drums carry us through its minute runtime.
Track 2, “Country Road 3” reminds me of Charleston and Carter’s experience coming up through the south. Not only in name but in instrumentation – showing off sliding guitars and wonderful production tricks. In the opening lines, Kid Lake sings, “True Love on the stereo” – in reference to the Hovvdy song. She spoke in our interview about how she’d set out to write something akin to it. You can hear that influence in her own vocal melodies, winding and mesmerizing throughout short bursts of bliss- rocking back and forth.
Although there’s no title track, lead single, “KLTB 333” feels like the flagship song for this EP. It perfectly divides the EP into 2 and shows off a wonderful display of production and songwriting skill from its sliding guitars to its glitchy fae vox.
“ten years dead” is another tender moment of vulnerability, where muffled strumming and chiming piano keys walk us through the past. As it all fleets by, questions of identity surface and Kid Lake is left asking, “What’s left?”
As we fall tragically on the delicate chords of “black like a dot on a map that represents death,” a lonely slide guitar cries in the background. Long continues with their open heart surgery as Kid Lake. The EP ends on the lines, “If you’re willing to sit with the feeling, it will change / I think I just got hit with the reason I should stay.”
The name of this project encapsulates all that lies within. To shed some light on its meaning, we spoke with Carter Long in an interview, where she recounted the threads that tied this EP together.
Let’s get into it.
An Interview with Carter Long aka Kid Lake
I was up late last night researching for this piece when I saw the EP’s name came from a quote by Charles Bukowski. Can you explain its relation to the project?
Yeah, so the original quote is, “as the spirit wanes, the form appears.” I think I first saw it on Ev Tilson’s story at some point but I flipped it. “as the form wanes, the spirit appears” represents my philosophy of art at this point.
Bukowski’s quote, “as the spirit wanes, the form appears” represents that an idea has to die in some sense for it to come to life, that there are necessary sacrifices in the process of materializing a creation. My interpretation with the inversion “as the form wanes, the spirit appears” is that the idea (spirit) transcends its physicality (form).
When someone records something, that creative soul can be lost in the things people think they are polishing. It’s in things like quantization and pitch correction that people see as “cleaning” rather than a stylistic choice.
I believe, when used in tandem with each other, the form can amplify the spirit.
In the context of the EP, it starts with the most produced track “don’t deserve to die” and ends with “black like a dot” which was just a live track, the rawest work. “KLTB 333” stands in the center, balancing the project’s ideas.
In the rollout you’ve been seen dressed as an angel roaming around bushwick, smoking cigarettes and posting up next to gas stations. Can you speak on the creative direction of the visuals and how it speaks to the vision of as the form wanes, the spirit appears?
I think the visual aspect is so important when you’re first showing the world who you are as an artist. I knew the whole way along that I wanted to incorporate this imagery of an angel into the project. To me it encapsulates all the themes of the EP: christian shame, identity, and this transcendence.
I think putting this non-passing trans person dressed as an angel is just a really cool image, and in the modern context of Bushwick, it feels like it all really connects to this idea of “needing a savior” or this “sense of hope” despite a predestined doom.
Neil Shukla (ig: @neilshuk) was instrumental in setting this up. He handled all of the visual elements of the rollout. I just showed up in my angel wings and he made magic out of it.
Themes of death and duality compose the fiber of this EP, while symbolism of the number 3 stands out all throughout. What can you tell listeners to look out for on our next listen?
Yeah, I’ve actually got this tattoo on my arm that says “me???” but the question marks are all 3s. It’s something I did a long time ago.
It’s kind of crazy but 333 is my angel number. It served as a guide for me throughout this me coming to terms with my I identity. The spirit speaking through the form of a repeated 3.
It shows up in tracks like “country road 3” and “KLTB 333”. There’s a world beyond the music. It takes place in this Christian setting in which people like me don’t deserve to die.
And on the themes of death… My grandfather, who I never got to meet, committed suicide. That always stuck with me cause it’s in my blood. So anytime I’ve been struggling with that, I’ve thought back to… him.
I know these songs took some time to surface. Can you share about your journey in bringing these ideas to life? What might be on the horizon for Kid Lake?
“ten years dead” was the first song completed for the project. That one was 3 years ago.
I’ve got another EP on the way soon.
I originally had planned for a visual album to come out alongside as the form wanes, the spirit appears. It was focused on the angel character in my visuals. Maybe that’ll still come out.
When that’s all done, I’ll start thinking about the album.
Amidst your numerous projects, you travel through various soundscapes, fearless in your sonic experimentation. It seems to all coalesce perfectly on Kid Lake. Can you speak on your vision for your various projects and how Kid Lake factors into all of it?
Kid Lake definitely feels the most personal to me but they’ve all helped me learn and improve my songwriting. Some of those Cry Baby pop elements have come around in track’s like “country road 3.”
… but for the most part, Kid Lake songs elude a structure. Maybe it’s just because of how my brain works with ADHD but I’m always onto a new idea.
In the algorithmic era, you’re incentivized to not stand out so you can fit into someone’s “brooklyn bisexual Tuesday morning daylist?”
But yeah, the glitchiness and genre-bendy nature of the EP I think makes it a bit of an algorithmic failure haha but hopefully fun to listen to.
How did you come up with the name Kid Lake?
I was on a trip up to New York with some friends talking about what I’d want to go by because I knew I didn’t want to use my real name, I wanted to go by an artist name. I knew I wanted to be tied to nature somehow. I ended up zooming in on a random lake on google maps and it said Kid Lake. The rest is history.
Did you listen to A. G. Cook’s album this year? Because hooooollyyy shiiiiiii-
So, we were talking about brevity earlier. 100 minutes. *laughs* don’t do that. You need to tell me which songs are good.
Disc 2 imo.
Hell yeah. Okay, that being said, “Being Harsh” is one of my favorite songs of all time. It’s this touchstone for so many artists. That is a perfect song.
And you heard that Worlds Worst cover?
Oh yeah, that was awesome. So sick.
And they’re playing a secret show with TAGABOW Jr. in Brooklyn on September 7th!
They’re unstoppable.
As we wrap up, are there any specific trans artists or creatives who have inspired you or whose work has had a significant impact on your own? What are some of your favorite trans works of art?
Claire Rousay is a big influence right now and her mixing ambience with hyperpop vocal textures.
Told Slant, Allie, Grumpy, Frost Children, are some amazing trans artists in New York who inspire me.
Lomelda was a big inspiration for me. I wrote “ten years dead” in her songwriting class. She’s not trans but I highly recommend her music haha
And then there’s the two Jane Schoenbrun movies, “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” & “I Saw the TV Glow,” Alex G scored both of those. They’re both incredible.
“I Saw the TV Glow” came out a week after I had come out online.
What would you say to someone struggling with trans identity?
Experiment with your presentation first. Life takes a lot of courage, especially living as a trans person, even if it ends up not feeling right for you, you will have gained the power to ignore one of the strongest societal expectations placed on us as people.
Keep listening to yourself. Labels only really help in communicating to others. You will understand yourself by recognizing yourself in others, and by looking inward. It’s okay to be selfish if you’ve been hiding yourself your whole life. Give yourself time. Be gentle. Tell the truth.
Thank You Kid Lake, Charleston will always love ya.
