In the middle of what’s been a particularly rainy summer, Golden Cinema have arrived to save the day and brighten things up a little with their debut album, Reels (2016-2021).
The album is an explosion of warm sunshine and colour. Their first-ever physical release opens with “Dead Ringer,” one of two tracks on the record released as singles for the album and not previously featured on an EP. The bass-driven opener does a fantastic job of grabbing you right from the get-go, and that momentum carries forward until the very last track.
And that momentum is what makes this album such a fun listen. There’s never a moment where you can’t picture yourself on a warm summer evening, cruising down an open road with the top down. There are a hundred little factors that help them accomplish that feeling, but it’s the balmy instrumentals and weaving, shimmering vocals, especially on songs like “Peachy Keen,” that really seal the deal. Even when they’re lamenting about being “Lost At The Movies,” it feels more like a fun misadventure than misfortune—a sense of being lost in what you love, rather than lost without direction.
While the band draws inspiration from the golden age of cinema—if you couldn’t already tell from their name—this inspiration seems to branch into the warm glow of nostalgia itself. Their song “Nostalgia” describes the feeling as a sweet spell they’re desperate not to wake from. It’s that same lure that keeps people coming back to classic films, that soft, safe place.
It’s that very place that these songs strive to take us to, these cinematic sorts of soundscapes. “Little Sunscreen” somehow manages to meld car chases with serenity Meanwhile “Talia” is a staple of the genre—Golden Cinema’s own “Ophelia”. It’s an anthemic love song that would sound perfectly at home on any mixtape (as long as you’re wooing a very specifically named girl).
With nearly all of the album treading old territory, there runs the risk of the excitement fading, but that couldn’t be further from the case. Hearing the puzzle pieces Golden Cinema have spent years constructing finally fit together is a satisfying feeling indeed, and just proves that the sunny, good vibrations are written into the band’s DNA.