Golden Glow

In October 2009, just as Lead Balloons were ending their time together, Golden Glow’s Pierre was in a serious automobile accident that left him unable to walk for nearly six months. Although the recovery was tough, and this was a dark time in his life, it also changed the way Pierre approached his art. Naming his new project Golden Glow as a tribute to the band Felt and their track “Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow” he began to write songs that captured what he was living through. Starting simply, and sticking to the DIY aesthetics that have marked Manchester bands since the first days of punk, songs were written and recorded on a four-track with minimal equipment and no grand plan for where things might end up. While the recordings may have originally been thought of as demos, it quickly became clear that there was an intimacy and rawness to the songs that were as much a function of the situation they were being recorded in as they were of Pierre’s writing and performance. Being home-ridden and unable to live his active life led to beautiful songs that mixed hope and sorrow. Not quite knowing how to work the equipment in front of him led to a sometimes distorted, yet always captivating blend of Brit-Pop and shoegaze that would not exist under any other circumstance.

By late 2010, Pierre Hall had completed the set of songs that were to make up the Golden Glow debut, Tender Is The Night. He had also started to apply the same lo-fi aesthetic to a series of music videos. Using super-8 shots of his life, and learning to edit as he created, the videos and the music matched perfectly. The string of positive press has been constant since “Adore Me” was given the seal of approval from The Drums, and Pierre has put together what will be the Golden Glow live band. He toyed with the idea of re-recording the songs in a cleaner studio. Then he thought of releasing the songs in their original form but limiting the outlet and calling them demos, but everyone who heard the tracks gave the same advice. Don’t ruin the magic captured on that four-track. Don’t clean-up the charm. Release the music as it is.

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