Sunday, June 08, 2008
"Dan Goldman is a songwriter based in Toronto, and his latest project is a group of unusual, tuneful, elegantly textured songs about sharks, boulders, frozen lakes, clay portraits, and the emotions they evoke and reflect. With accompaniments that include gorgeous string quartet arrangements by Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy), the sound-world of Goldman's songs is lush and fresh. "Luxury Pond" hasn't been released yet, and host David Garland offers you your first chance to hear this delectably original album."
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/spinning/episodes/2008/06/08
Luxury Pond:
It's best to think of Luxury Pond not just as a simple body of water, but rather as the culmination point of many steady streams. Though they spend just a few fleeting moments collected together in its belly, each passing current carves out its unique impression while giving to one beautiful whole.
On this, his second record, Dan Goldman has invited these arteries in with open arms, gathering a sharp-witted cast of players to perform an exemplary collection of clever pop songs. And while the collaboration that would be encrypted into zeros and ones came together with just eight hours of studio time, Luxury Pond has been a drip in the back of Goldman's mind for some time now.
It started in June of 2005, when Goldman took in a double-encore performance at Toronto's Music Gallery featuring Owen Pallett, aka Final Fantasy, backed by the St. Kitts string quartet (the same ensemble that would later shape FF's Polaris Prize-winning landmark He Poos Clouds).
Immediately following the show, Goldman asked Pallett to help craft his new, as-yet-unwritten record. The ever-accommodating violinist unsurprisingly agreed, having handled strings on Goldman's first album, Through a Revolution; this time it was decided Pallett would bring his new friends in St. Kitts along for the ride.
Goldman spent the rest of the summer in Montreal, where he committed himself to the song-writing task, drawing lyrical inspiration from the likes of Jeff Tweedy, Joanna Newsom, and Bill Callaghan. Though the languid, slumber-inducing humidity of the season kept him from completing any works, it helped to spawn early drafts of songs that document the lives of prehistoric sharks, criminal children and reluctant biblical heroes.
Around that time, Goldman also met California-based, Daniela Gesundheit, aka Snowblink, a poetic lark whose voice and artistic bent created the perfect foil for Dan's new material. Before long, a fast friendship evolved and the pair mounted an extensive North American tour where they honed their gently assertive vocal unisons and harmonically adventurous guitar playing.
Months later, with the songs, strings and voices in place, Goldman completed his puzzle by inviting improvising jester, Ryan Driver (who also plays in many of Toronto's finest bands, the Silt and Deep Dark United among them) into the fold. Ryan's off-the-cuff analogue synth gestures would swim through the songs, refracting the lush and symmetrical string tones into happily broken hues.
Production and engineering duties were confidently handed over to previous collaborator, David Travers-Smith (Veda Hille, Spiral Beach, and Jane Siberry), whose in-depth forays into musical cross-pollination made him the best man for the job.
After three months of arranging sessions with Pallett, several sectional rehearsals, and an open rehearsal with the full group at the Tranzac club in Toronto (where audience members where asked to contribute their two cents), the group was poised to enter the studio for a few days. Due to a double-booking snafu, though, a scramble to find a new room in which to record ensued. Though time would be tight, it ultimately worked out for the best, as they managed to score the beautiful studio 211 in the CBC building – for one day.
And so, on a warm Tuesday afternoon in April of 2007, Goldman sunk into the belly of the pond, allowing all the streams to pour in. The result is a head-strong collection of shimmering songs that live in a body between reveries and waking life.
–Bruce Polostrov-Singer
