Golden - Summer
(Slowdime)
In life, there are some times when, in what seems like a miracle, everything
starts to make sense, and the solutions to all life's problems seem obvious and
attainable. Alcoholics call moments like that "moments of clarity," when they
are awakened from their drunken haze and can see the damage their addiction is
doing to their friends and themselves.
My hope was that Golden's last recording, the 12" Golden and Rhythm Beats Jazz,
represented something of a "moment of clarity" (strictly musically speaking) for
the band and that they would continue to release music like that instead of what
they have put out before. That's not to say the first two LPs were bad--they
are both worth owning--it's just that Rhythm Beats Jazz was so amazingly good.
Golden's new LP, Golden Summer, is certainly not a rehashing of what they did
before that great EP, however its association with what made that EP so great
is limited at best. So, on one hand, I am disappointed there isn't more of a
jazz influence and that any afrocentric beats remain an accessory instead of
the focus, but on the other hand, the album is a marked improvement over their
previous full lengths and continues the trend of deemphasizing their Don
Cab-style metal influence.
The album is effectively divided in half, using a slash-and-burn approach to
album architecture.
The first half of the album simply destroys. The Southern rock manifesto the
band hinted towards with some of the tracks on their last LP, Super Golden
Original Movement, is in full force on Golden Summer. The guitarists mix
equal parts Mahavishnu jazz fusion and foot-to-the-floor ZZ Top to smother the
accompanying syncopated drum polyrhythms.
Once the blaze is set, the second half of the album simply sits and watches the
fire burn, slowing down the tempo, letting the songs get considerably more
mellow. The heart of this side is "Army Worms," a drumless 8 minute dueling
guitar snakecharmer that overstays its welcome by about 5 minutes, causing the
album to lose some momentum. The rest of the mellow side is adequate though, no
better or worse than Golden's last LP but paling in comparison to the A-side.
Overall, the album stays the course well enough to grab and keep your attention.
Perhaps Golden has found its style now as a tight four piece rock band paying
homage to Southern rock over extraordinary percussive rhythms. Or perhaps their
next release will be yet another iteration and improvement. Regardless, the
Golden age is now.
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