Premiere: Meet Golding, who make an iso anthem with new single, Alone. Together.

Gold Coast-based indie-electronic duo Golding may totally be an act you aren't aware of just yet, but they're certainly going to be on your radar very soon. Formed last year as the musical partnership of two close friends Jay Bainbridge and Matt Bartlem, the duo specialise in this shimmering indie-dance sound that feels both nostalgic and current at the same time; a nod to the festival-dominating rise of Australia's most subtle dance music world, but brought into a new era through the intertwining of new sounds and flavours - something the pairing are quickly becoming known for.

They officially made a debut with last year's Weightless World, which provided an introduction to the group and the washed-out rhythms they're keen to highlight with the project. Thickly layered with indulgent melodies and pop-centric hooks, Weightless World felt like a duo finding their feet from the get-go, and if that was indeed the case, then their second single - the today-premiering Alone. Together. - sees them learn to run, and now it's going to be difficult to keep up.

Written in the depths of isolation, Alone. Together. provides a bit of a different spin on all the isolation-born records we've heard so far in the past few months. Instead of dwindling on the negatives, it instead almost-romanticises it in a way, pairing some incredibly sweet vocals with a gentle collection of rhythms and harmonies that could easy be beefed up into something a little more club-centric, but instead keeps things light and subtle; a hazy, 80s-esque synth meeting glitchy bursts of colour underneath Jay's pacing vocal.

As it turns out, this romantic touch comes from the single's first development, while Jay was having a bit of a moment with his wife in the midst of isolation. "It was in a moment with my wife, we were just having fun and enjoying each other in a really normal and natural way," he says on the time, and how it informed the duo's second single. "It was weird though because whilst I was fully in the moment with her, I was also able to be outside the moment and realise how relatable and real this same situation must be for so many other people."

It's a brilliant track that presents the perfect opportunity to introduce yourself to Golding before they blow up into something spectacular, and you can do exactly that below as we preview their new single ahead of its official release this Friday, June 26th.

Tell us about yourselves?

Jay and I (Matt) have been best mates going on 15 years now. We met through other projects in (Matt’s) old studio. About 3 years ago we both started sharing our music and creative ideas with each other, and found that it was just so fun and effortless. After working on a few demos over a year or so, we decided it was time to take it a bit more seriously and dedicate some real time and effort into what is now become Golding.

What’s the ‘vibe’ music-wise?

We have so many influences musically, so many that it's hard to really nail it down to a few specific genres. Overall though we are both always chasing down grooves and melodies that make you feel connected to the song in a real way. We’re both big music nerds too, so we love diving into analog synths sounds for hours on end, and finding that perfect kick sound that just makes the song feel like it's larger than life. We have both been really inspired by the electronic music scene in Australia over the last few years too, and have friends in the industry that are just killing it at the moment, which is super inspiring and motivation for us to always keep pushing harder.

What are your production and writing processes usually like?

Over the years the process has changed a lot, and keeps being refined, but lately what has been working really well is when Jay comes up with a melody or even small seed of a song idea first. That way there’s always more honesty and connection for him when it comes time to deliver the vocal performance in the studio or live. After that initial process, I (Matt) work on the music and arrangement of the track while also making sure that the sonic aesthetic is just right for the original intent behind Jay’s original seed idea.

Once we are both happy with the track at its core we sometimes get some of our super talented mates to come in and help with some additional instrumentation. After that, Matt mixes and masters the track, and we hand it over to our management, and hope they dig it.

Can you tell us about your new single, Alone. Together.?

Jay: It was in a moment with my wife, we were just having fun and enjoying each other in a really normal and natural way. It was weird though because whilst I was fully in the moment with my her, I was also able to be outside the moment, and realised how relatable and real this same situation must be for so many other people, that’s when the main lyric and hook Alone Together came about.

Matt: As soon as Jay showed me his rough demo’d version of the song, I knew there was something really special going on. Normally we both spend so much time refining and re-working ideas in the studio, but this track just happened so easily. We started working on it around 10 AM one Sunday morning, and had most of the track done by around 4. We called in one of our best mates Ian Peres (Wolfmother, Jarryd James, Xavier Rudd) to put down some bass, and he nailed it in maybe two takes or something! After that, we cut some more vocals and I had it mixed and mastered by around 6 PM.

What does 2020 have in store for you?

I’m not really sure anyone in the music industry knows the answer to that one, but we just want to get out and play our music to as many people as we can, as much as we can. We also want to finish our debut album and hopefully find a regular place amongst some of the other amazing Australian artists that we've been so inspired by. 

What do you want people to take away from the project?

We want people to feel good and have a good time while listening to our music. It may seem simple, but there’s so much crazy serious stuff happening in the world right now that we just want to help contribute to people being able to unwind and escape from everything even if its just for a few minutes at a time. When our music comes on we really want to lift the vibe in the room, whether it's at a live show, your Lounge room or listening alone on headphones. 

Where can we find more of your music?

Spotify / Apple Music  / Triple J unearthed and now even TikTok! 

Follow Golding: FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM