Weekly Release Spotlight: Solid Gold
Posted on 11/16/2008
Solid Gold
Bodies Of Water
[Self-Released]
Swooping. That's what it feels like. A never ending swooping through the air, like you're gathering floating stars made out of Jello with your cartoon dogcatcher's net as you fly through the sky's wispy clouds on the back of a friendly dragon. As an added bonus, this is all happening locally so your friends can watch you dart through the night, because the band soundtracking your gelatin-celestial journey is Minneapolis outfit Solid Gold, performing songs from their phenomenally polished self-released debut album Bodies Of Water.
Abstractly soothing and accessibly danceable at once, Solid Gold's steadied pop music is more than adequately drenched in both solace and sexy. Thus, their first full-length outing was appropriately produced by Ryan Olcott (formerly of the critically acclaimed 12Rods and now of the equally synthified Mystery Palace), whose proclivity for musically coalescing sadness and slow-motion pelvic thrusts has been and still is unmistakable. Intermingling naturalistic banjo and guitar plucks into the album's overall electronic plumage, the album never goes so far off into otherworldly territory without grounding itself in intensely human emotions.
Just because it can get sentimental doesn't mean Solid Gold can't also shoot off like a rocket into the night, manufacturing an aural palette of abstrusely calm beats and warm inflections. "Get Over It" simmers with the obfuscated vocal refrain "It's not your fault!" drowning in a sea of frothy bass bumps and keyboard bops. Likewise, as if a faux-interlude, "Those Who Go" feels outwardly spacey with its minimal vocal harmonizing and intoxicating 80s snare, but is just too rich to be thrown away as a link between pop songs. What really places the trio on its winning pedestal, however, is the closer "Who You Gonna Run To?," which is the album's equivalent to having to say goodbye to your star-catching aid, the friendly dragon: bittersweet, but a precious memory that will revisit you in your dreams.
Stream: Solid Gold - Get Over It
Solid Gold will be playing at the Nomad World Pub on November 29th.
Written by Chris Polley, Radio K volunteer and host of Now Like Photographs.