Monday, October 21, 2024

CD Odyssey Disc 1775: Boy Golden

It’s my second album from 2021 in a row. Did I buy a lot of music in 2021, you ask? That’s a silly question. I buy a lot of music every year.

Disc 1775 is…Church of Better Daze

Artist: Boy Golden

Year of Release: 2021

What’s up with the Cover? A lot is going on with this cover, which depicts a cutaway view of an eight-story building – possibly the titular Church of Better Daze – with all manner of events taking place. Pets run about, people play guitars and sleep (not at the same time) and various passages run away into the distance to new worlds.

At the very top we have someone who looks to have achieved enlightenment, but unlike every other floor, there’s no obvious way into that room. Ain’t that the truth.

How I Came To Know It: My friend Casey discovered this band, and I joined him at a live show to see what all the fuss was about. I liked what I heard and bought both the CDs for sale at the merch table, this one and 2023’s “For Jimmy” (reviewed back at Disc 1699). 

How It Stacks Up: I have two Boy Golden albums and if you’ve been a careful reader to this point (or even have basic reading comprehension) you know which two. Of those two, “Church of Better Daze” comes in at #2.

Ratings: 4 stars

Listening to Boy Golden’s “Church of Better Daze” is to experience being a slacker without all the anxiety about being broke all the time. Don’t get me wrong, the characters in these songs are almost certainly broke. They just seem OK with it, as they dream of – you guessed it – better days.

Boy Golden picks the perfect musical style to pull off this lazy dreamy quality, with a record that floats languidly between folk and country. The air in these laid-back scenes is hazy and indistinct, but it’s probably just all the marijuana smoke.

Yes, Boy Golden likes to sing about the sweat leaf. Sometimes it is the star of the show, and other times it is secondary to his whimsical explorations of ordinary life. For the latter we get the crowd-pleasing jingle, “KD and Lunch Meat” a song replete with oohs, woos, and clever turns of phrase. A song so chill it turns eating KD and lunch meat into a victory. It is also very catchy and (I am told) a radio hit. I expect in ten years Boy Golden will hate playing it, but for now it’s a natural instant hit and those are rare and worth celebrating.

The title track doubles down on how to live a relaxed and righteous life. Boy Golden shows off his immaculate talent for phrasing and hazing as he trips through various protocols on how to smoke grass. 90% of the song is that and only that, but he finds time to provide a stanza of life advice which is worth passing along:

“You gotta follow your heart, make good art
Call your momma and work real hard
If you never ever cheat then you never have to lie
If you're in the right place, you never ask for the time”

Good advice, and it even ends with some helpful directions, metaphysically speaking.

The production is a bit on the fuzzy side, without a lot of low range. I’m a mid-range guy anyway, so that wasn’t a deal breaker, but it left things a bit diffuse on some of the less dynamic songs. I fully expect that’s what Boy Golden was going for, so fair enough.

“The Year That Clayton Delaney Died” is more of a cautionary tale that those cool and reckless guitar heroes of our youth are more likely to die young than get famous. Boy Golden doesn’t let the song get too heavy, choosing to see a tragic local rock and roller’s end through the adoring eyes of a young fan. For the most part we are spared the grimmer imagery, but the overall lesson is there if you’re willing to pick it up.

This song is the Rosetta Stone for decoding this record, which despite the general tone of hedonism, has a good heart at the centre of it all, and a lot more to say beyond just how to pass a blunt and eat on the cheap.

Best tracks:  KD and Lunch Meat, Something to Work Towards, Church of Better Daze, A Little Space, The Year That Clayton Delaney Died

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