Golden Daze
“Blue Bell”
Simpatico
This is beautiful music. The vocal styles are so different because Jacob Loeb and Ben Schwab, who make up Golden Daze, sing in unison, which just adds this immediacy to the music. Rather than hearing overdubs of the same voices, you get these wonderful, different-sounding vocals just emphasizing the difference between the vocals.
At the heart of the record’s sonic identity is a conversation between friends, between artistic collaborators, and yet also between artist and audience. Simpatico speaks to something deeply personal but it does so with the insistence that we, the listener, are a kind of witness. From its first tentative offer to “stick around”, Simpatico is a journey of discovery, of forgiveness, of surrender, one that culminates in the quiet, self-assured farewell of its final track: I’ll still be around my friend.
I love the music and vocals of this group. What a way to start the new year.