A Golden State

Description

Luke Sital-Singh will release his third album A Golden State on April 5th, 2019 on Raygun Records via The Orchard. The album was produced by Tommy McLaughlin (Villagers, Soak), who also produced Lukes last album, 2017s Time Is A Riddle, and recorded in Portlands Jackpot Studios, famously set up by Elliott Smith, where alumni include R.E.M., Stephen Malkmus, and The Decemberists.

A Golden State contains new single Los Angeles, plus the 2018 singles The Last Day and Love Is Hard Enough Without The Winter. In April 2018, Luke was invited to give a TED Talk at the official TED conference in Vancouver, and the event proved the catalyst for Luke to finish set of the songs hed been slowly, painfully writing for the new album. A Golden State he says has been the most difficult of his three albums to write. Even though I think I say that every time, he admits, convinced he also said it about his 2014 debut The Fire Inside. But this one did seem to take absolutely forever. Luke and Tommy headed to Portland in August 2018, and were joined in the studio by a small group of musicians. Whereas the last album was largely recorded live, A Golden State was the opposite. We wanted it to be big and warming, says Luke. So we used vintage ribbon mics, which give this really smoky, husky sound. The vocal was the most important thing, I wanted it to feel like it was jumping out the speaker. At its most basic, A Golden State is album of California dreaming. The songs therein reflect a new chapter, and a new mindset for Luke. Overall, there is this ethereal, positive vibe without being too cheesy, he says. There is an Americana fantasy, of wanting to escape to this gorgeous place but also about what Im escaping from. The cover artwork, created by Hannah, a four-colour lino cut of the Venice Beach canals, is taken from her upcoming art book, Coastline.