Golden Daze
Simpatico
(Autumn Tone Records)
4.5/5
LA-based indie rock duo Golden Daze’s second album, Simpatico, delivers powerful imagery through minimal means.
The band’s two members, Jacob Loeb and Ben Schwab, tell a story through the album’s dreamy, lo-fi folk songs. A sense of nostalgia and longing for what were once simple and familiar days is evoked. There is harmony in the vocals and in the use of both electric and acoustic guitars, the tools chosen to convey this story.
In the first half of the final chorus of the title track, which closes off the album, the lyrics are, “When everyone has gone/and it’s empty at the end.” The music fades out to silence, although the song is not over. A tune faintly returns, emphasizing the second part of the last verse, “I’ll still be around/my friend.”
Here’s hoping Golden Daze stick around, too.