December 28, 2024

Superfan——the songwriting vehicle of 20-year-old New York based musician Kali Flanagan——today confirms a new covers album, ‘Forging Seasonal Signature With My Guitar,’ to be accompanied by a limited CD run via Orange Label Records——preorder here. Listen on Bandcamp here and Nina here.

Featuring heartrending renditions of beloved tracks (see: Smashing Pumpkins’ “Perfect”), deeper cuts and cult classics, (see: Jandek’s “I Sit Alone and Think a Lot About You”, Lucinda Williams’ “Minneapolis”, Mojave 3’s “Candle Song 3”), and new releases, (see: Quiet Light’s “Waiting”), the holiday season is completed with this Superfan disc. The nine covers were entirely performed and recorded by Flanagan in his Brooklyn apartment amidst the rollout of his most recent LP, Tow Truck Jesus.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR SUPERFAN

AlT PRESS — Flanagan’s latest album, Tow Truck Jesus, sees him step away from the path once taken. Across the 11-track LP, we’re reminded of that gut punch of a saying, “Grow or die.” Flanagan’s sonic landscape has been reborn, tumbling fearlessly over voice cracks and stripped-back guitars as he lays bare his experience transitioning, the trials of a long-distance relationship, and the trepidation and fear around career failures. It is straightforward, honest, and self-aware, teetering between unfathomable complexity and restraint — revealing, by no surprise, a revelatory level of maturity that we could all learn from. 

THE FADER — His music is similarly defined by a refusal to compromise on his vision. It renders the music vibrant and alive, and the danceable moments more immediate and evocative, prime for audiences to claim as their own. Personal truths are sown seamlessly into laidback bass grooves. Voice cracks are endearingly preserved in final mixes, a subtle act of authenticity.

OFFICE MAGAZINE — Prior to using the alias Superfan, Kali Flanagan was known simply as “Kali,” releasing several songs and an EP under the eponymous name. During this time, Kali was marked as a prodigy of sorts, learning to produce at age 12 and getting signed to a record label by age 15. The experiences that were unlocked and encountered in his youth through prodigious talent forced an early maturation upon the musician, one with enough implicit pressure to potentially sabotage him as well.

But in rare cases, this pressure can transform a prodigy into a protégé — one who consults past, present, and anticipatory knowledge to cultivate a sensibility that explores the nooks and crannies of age and identity only to transcend such. This rare case is Superfan, who needs no designation — whether it be one of prodigy or precocity — to legitimize or characterize his music. Instead, he now lets the music speak for itself, and in effect lets himself speak unrestrained — not as a prodigy, not as a wonder-child, but as an artist, and most importantly, as Superfan.