14 May 7–13, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Little Image, Big Dreams Indie-rock trio Little Image went to band therapy. Now they’re back and ready to take on the road again with a new album. BY BAYLIE VIKE D allas-born indie trio Little Im- age (stylized little image) is en- tering a new era and returning fresh and healed. Through therapy — yes, band group therapy — Little Image has cultivated a sense of radical vulnerability and, in turn, radical optimism, as clearly presented on their third and newest album, KILL THE GHOST, released March 27. We sat down with frontman Jackson Simmons to discuss the pressure, the work and the rebirth it takes to create vulnerable work again and again. Being in a band is magical, he tells us, but not without hardship. “We 1,000% get tired,” says Simmons. “There’s that old saying that if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life… well, that’s bullshit. We absolutely work hard, and it is easy to downplay the strug- gles. We are living not just our dreams, but someone else’s dreams as well. I think both things can be true.” The band developed an early passion not just for performing but for creating multi- sensory experiences for its audiences through stage design and lighting, which drummer Troy Bruner studied in previous ventures. He brought to the band a new sense of what a show could look and feel like through punchy screen graphics and dy- namic light displays. “It’s amazing getting to do what we love,” says the lead singer. The band idea was first conceived when the Simmons attended a Battle of the Bands at Curtain Club. There, a teenage Simmons thought for the first time, “I want to do this.” Like many artists, he sought out like-minded musicians on Instagram, where he con- nected with his eventual bandmates, Bruner and Brandon Walters, the bassist and synth player. “The first rehearsal felt like family from the get-go,” says Simmons. “It was magic.” But the quiet times, outside of the hustle culture of touring, can be hard for Simmons. He finds his introspection running rampant, analyzing this career path and contemplat- ing how to reframe success and handle the band’s unique challenges. While music is easily Little Image’s passion, they also carry the weight of it being their livelihood. So, af- ter their recent European tour, the band sought therapy. “Brandon sent us a message saying he needed to slow down,” says Simmons. “It was long overdue. We were putting things aside and not expressing them. In my opin- ion, being a part of a band is harder than marriage. I’m married. Therapy gave us the tools to process the things we go through to- gether.” They worked specifically with a therapist who specializes in serving musicians, who told them they were living an abnormal life. “You’re often on the road without a rou- tine and without sleep, having someone vali- date those experiences for us was very healing,” says the frontman. A New Era for Little Image As the band continues to amass critical ac- claim, Simmons says that new challenges within the music industry are emerging. “In the age of A.I., being an artist is scary,” he says, before highlighting how al- gorithms have lowered the threshold for making a hit song for the worse. “... It seems like everyone is making [nonplayer charac- ter] music,” he says, joking about cookie- cutter cultural pieces designed to appeal to the masses without any real value, or collo- quially known as “NPC.” “Our music is harder to digest, and it can make people feel uncomfortable,” he says. “It even makes me uncomfortable. But we refuse to make NPC music. We want people to think.” With KILL THE GHOST, Simmons carries a heavy duality between wanting to write widely appealing songs while also staying true to the band’s own heartbeat. Thankfully, their label gave them the free- dom to do so, and they chose to pursue au- thenticity, writing songs for themselves rather than catering to a particular audi- ence. They emerged with songs like “THE REAPER,” a focus track for them, and “SHOTS I’M NOT CALLING,” Simmons’ personal favorite on the album. Tales of im- poster syndrome, heartache and creative ca- tharsis from the band’s lived experiences over the past few years are present in every track. “There are characters in every song throughout this album,” Simmons explains. “These characters exist in all of us, and each of us has our own struggles with accepting. Everyone wants to know the meanings of our songs, and a mentor told us once that sharing [so] much robs a song of its meaning. We would like people to draw their own meanings.” Little Image will embark on another tour to accompany the new album, starting in Massachusetts in early May, winding through the United States and finishing in Missouri in late June. As they gear up for an- other tour, Simmons reflects on his growth as an artist. “I think of myself being older, and how I still want to be doing this,” he says. “I hope to meet this older self and hopefully be bet- ter able to explain my heart and slow down. Rest and reset. Sit with myself in comfort and not anxiety.” But Simmons is also intentional about honoring his current successes, especially mere hours before the release of another album and at the dawn of another tour season. “Whether people get it or not, we made something great, and I have to have peace about that,” he says. “ That release is special and beautiful, and the band feels it pro- foundly.” The KILL THE GHOST Tour will stop in Dallas on June 6 at the Kessler Theater. Tickets are $32. Acacia Evans Little Image released their newest and third album, KILL THE GHOST on March 27. Their pared tour will begin in early May. ▼ Music SCAN HERE
