:: GOLDCARD ::
SELF-TITLED
(Off / Stomp)

Listening to this is like hearing Sparklehorse for the first time - that sense of flicking between radio stations as you move from song to song.

The reason for that is the man behind Goldcard is Charlie Campbell, the leading agent of 90s Portland pop band Pond (contemporaries of Elliott Smith's Heatmiser). Also appearing are his former Pond bandmates Chris Brady and Dave Triebwasser, Grandaddy's Jason Lytle, Jim Fairchild and Aaron Burtch, and Quasi's Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss.

All of which adds up to beautiful unnamed orchestral snippets running into tragic folk ('We Only Doubt Which Theory We Will Be Proving First') running into sad dream-pop ('Rabbit') running into lo-fi bass-driven numbers ('Didn't Feel A Thing') running into stark piano tunes ('It Had A Dream') and so on.

A pot of indie gold.

- Eileen Dick