(Artwork care of Karen Ramsay (www.karenramsay.com), profile photo care of brianlackeyphotography.com)

Friday, November 25, 2011

CD review - The Golden Awesome, Autumn (2011)

Yin-yang between noise rock and dream pop

Why do I find such bliss in noisy abandon? There's something about a thick blur of grinding sound that drowns out my daily concerns. It's cathartic, even as fuzzed out guitars seem to echo some of the static I repress in my brain.

Regardless of how I made this association -- was it that first golden moment when I was transfixed by the Velvet Underground's Heroin? -- it hints at the psychoactive nature of music.

On Autumn, The Golden Awesome are just that: awesome. I'm cossetted and comforted in a hazy blanket of noise. Ragged guitars weave a psychedelic tapestry, mediated by distant, close-harmony vocals. The yin-yang between the singing and the music permeates Autumn. Floating above the fray, the dreamy sweetness of the vocals complements the sonic flail with a soothing contrast.

I included A Thousand Nights and One Night in my September singles post. All of that is true for Autumn as a whole. The songs vary in tempo and feel, but the shifting balance pervades the tracks, providing a subtle power that mere noise rock or dream pop would lack.

One of my favorite tracks is Where To Begin. It melds Pink Floyd's Fearless with the Beatles' Blue Jay Way. The repeated Escher-like melody climbs briefly before resolving back where it began. I love the sense of moving forward while staying centered.

Autumn was released on November 15 on M'Lady's Records.

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