Sarah Goldstone - ‘Waving’
Photo by Wyndham Garnett
On this first day of December in the year 2023, the magnificent Sarah Goldstone has graced the ears of the Earth with her brand new record, Waving. Please join us as we peruse a couple tracks from the LP: “I Know My Way Around” and “Honda Battery.”
At the end of October, we featured Goldstone’s single, “Athens 1975” and, to no surprise, it garnered the most page visits in the history of our blog. She has already firmly established herself in the industry, providing keys and vocals for Lucy Dacus and she’s fresh off of a tour with boygenius. One might wonder when she had time to record her record, but it’s here nonetheless and it is glorious.
“I Know My Way Around” promptly begins with a heavenly double-tracked vocal performance, immediately drawing in the listener. Goldstone’s voice is accompanied by the elegant sounds of keys, forming an ethereal and dreamy soundscape, perfectly setting the stage for the rest of the tune. A lo-fi, modest beat soon appears, providing some forward momentum and most assuredly securing our listening pleasure.
Ear candy comes in a variety of vehicles, first with some vibey guitar and then with a cosmic synth. While the beat adds some vibrant energy to the overall arrangement, “I Know My Way Around” holds tightly to its chill and dreamy presentation. The sounds churn and swell in the underbelly of the song, almost reminiscent of something from Sgt. Pepper’s, though it still firmly plants its feet in modernity.
“Honda Battery” is an upbeat slice of musical pie with a heap of indie-rock whip cream. We detect a bit of Motown in the fantastic, bouncing bass line as it pulsates along to the energetic beat. An ear-worm melody is deployed from the guitar and you will likely find your head bobbing as soon as you hit that play button.
Goldstone’s vocal arrives, confident and mellow as it carves a path through the instrumental. We marvel at the way it effortlessly ebbs in flows into a remarkable falsetto and back again, while keys pad the arrangement, offering momentary glimpses of the mid-‘70s. Dynamic shifts are provided by expertly adding and removing elements, most notably on the middle eight, which comes equipped with a brief key change.