City Pages: Solid Gold

8/6/2019 City Pages: Solid Gold

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8/6/2019 City Pages: Solid Gold

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Solid Gold pin down a sound

that's so old, it's new

I

15inw:esTHE SON GSWE[AN 'TESCAPE

~   Ray Cummings

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE

"Brother Sport (LiveJ0.

This sh i mmer ing,shrieking orgasmat ronof a bliss t ide - osterisiblyI guess,aboutencouraging one's brot her t o pursue

just trying to playoff "the absurdity of the sport ing life with indefat igable vigorbut rea lly.just about melting myfaceit all," the "all " referring mostly to theirTHE FUTU over and over again- whollyembodiesjobs as musicians. Coulter says that whilet he euphoria surrounding Obamas posthey're not necessarily interested in writsiblecandidacYrOughta be an easy fay-up.

ing party songs, they don't need to keep aOFRETRO Swoosh?serious edge on every aspect.

"During the last 10 years, everybody

and their mom have been in a band . We're

BY AMBER SCHADEWALD

_a carnival of faux-vintage scarves, hid

eously sexy sunglasses, and whateverelse

1is unconsciously trendy, the SXSW 2007

:: owd was a hipsterfashion showat its best,bu t Solid Gold opted out of the scene com

pletelyand went foramore classic look-the

mariachiband. Donning heeled boots, puffy

shirts, and super-tight black suits, the three

amigossweltered in the Austin heat."There were three rul es for the week,"

band member Zach Coul ter explains. "You

couldn't pass up free food, beer, or take off

your mariachi suit."

Coulter, Matt Locher, and Adam Hurl

burt stuck to theirpromise and found themselves suffering clothing-inflicted bruises,

takingstreetnaps, and evenswimmingin a

pool that was closed for health reasons.

"When I finally got home and pu t on apair of jeans, it felt like I was wearing thefinest woven silk," Caul ter remembers.

Out ofthe suits and backinMinneapolis,Solid Gold has since added two members,

slide guitarist Shan Troth and drummer

Adam Peterson, thereby solidifying theirsound into the incredible ride it is today. Lis

teniag to Solid Gold's electric, psychedelic,

and simultaneously stable rock is like inhaling and exhaling at the same time.

Straight off a plane from New York, allbut Peterson gather downtown at Barrio on

a Monday night to sip some tequila and dis

cuss the band's CUITent state of mind. Afterseveral years ofreconfiguring, Solid Gold are

finally feeling like their name fits and releasing their debut full-length, Bodies ofWater.

"We're finally hurdling that hump,"

Coulter says with a smile and a sigh.

Blending and braiding a multitude ofsounds, Bodies of Water features organ

melodies with anxious guitar. fueling basslines, and technologic input. The tracks

are an invigoratingIVof straightserotonin,

providing a sense of musical ecstasy you

can enjoy up or down.

With a rainb ow of pills on their show

posters (which Coulter says is just their

version of coloring Easter eggs), picturesof fat guys in capes, and their sometimes

strange stage apparel, the guys say they're

citypagec.com

just taking it with a grain of salt and having

fun with it," says Hurlburt.Born in Madison, Wisconsin, Solid

Gold eventually exhausted their oppor

tuniti es in the small city and headed west

to play with Twin Cities friends Digitata,

Building Better Bombs , and Mystery Palace.More recently, the five-piece have beentraveling internationally, finding success

in Iceland and, most notably, London.

"[In London] I think people are more

eager to listen to something that's unlikeeverything else ," Hurlburt says, which is

exactly what Solid Gold are trying to be-e

different. Although they may have influences from the past, the band members say

they are by no means attempting to be any

sort of decade revival.

"We never sat down and decided what

kind of music we wanted to play," says

Locher, who places their music into his

made-up "retro-future" genre. "With some

bands, that's just so obvious. We just p laywhat we feel."

Changing things up at all times, Locher,

Hurlburt, and Coulter often play each oth

er's ins truments, taking advantage oftheir

varying abilities to create otherwise unexpected sounds .Locher says the limitations

in his music-theory knowledge make him

"play really weird shit" and helps to keep

their work versatile.

"We like to keep switching thingsup. We'll probably change it again next

year. Maybe add in a choir of dolphins or

a clown singing a cappella," Coul ter says,while singing along to a Junior Senior re

mix playing in the restaurant.

Happy to be home and back in the com

pany of their girlfriends, the group agreethey are "very communal," an extended

family that gets along better than most ac

tual families. But like any true brothers, the

guys admit they can fight like siblings, too."Most recently we fought about sand

wiches. I got a full beer can thrown at me

becauseof it," Hurlburt says to Coulter, who

simply smirks. He must have deserved it. rnl

SOLIDGOLDplaya CD-release showwith

Mystery Palace and OJ Real Jaguar on

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7,at the VARSITY

THEATER;612.604.0222

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