featuring the very best of americana, alt.country and roots music
November 19, 2024
Scott Foley, purveyor of dust
What is the sound of LA? Does Los Angeles sound like the folk- and country-rock of Laurel Canyon? Maybe it sounds like the hair metal bands that erupted onto the Sunset Strip in the 90s? Some might conjure memories of the Bakersfield sound (though Bakersfield is actually two hours North). Gold Star has been part of the LA music scene since before their debut EP in 2012. Fronted by Morgan Rabenreither, the band effectively began to reach ears on a national level with 2017's Big Blue, building on that attention with 2018's Uppers & Downers and '22s Headlights USA. More recently, Gold Star has traded in a larger, almost anthemic sound, reflecting the perceived glitz 'n glamour of the City of Angels. At heart, however, Rabenreither has always been a singer-songwriter, a fact that he embraces on his new Shoot the Moon project, returning Gold Star to the more organic folk-rock of Big Blue.
Produced by Sean O'Brien, Shoot the Moon pairs the ambitious songwriting of Headlights USA with the studio intimacy of Gold Star's earlier work. Recorded largely live with Rabenreither on guitar, Jordan Odom on bass, drums by Jay Rudolph, the guitar and pedal steel of Connor 'Catfish' Gallaher, and Mikey Whiteside on keys, the new collection explores the choice of measured optimism, even in the face of possible failure. A born to run spirit rings through the album, carried by the ubiquitous harmonica and pedal steel. The title cut rises and falls like a tide, a soft echo on Rabenreither's longing vocal: Now I'm fading / And I'm fading fast / The door's wide open / And my life don't last / These days, they turn to night ... "I Think You Should Know" shuffles with a fingerpicked electric, keys adding bright notes of hope. We're a small part in everything tonight, he sings to stoke the fire for an unnamed compatriot: The night has died a thousand times / These close calls keep me so alive / There's a reason for everything tonight.
While Gold Star's vague, abiding hope adds a romantic ambition to How To Shoot the Moon, it's not a cheap or unrealistic notion. Songs like "Fentanyl" anchor the collection in the shadows of lives lived in the balance. Based on the experience of the songwriter and his friends, the track layers weightless fingerpicking over a wavering tone, Gallaher's pedal steel keening: And we did what we were bound to do / And in this way we were born to lose. The beautiful waltz-time "In Ruins" plumbs these same emotional depths, adding unsteady percussion: I climbed out your window / I swore we were the same / And I know how it ends up / And I know how much you've changed. "Some Sunday Mornings" reads like an early morning stumble home, a train whistle pedal steel echoing from the corners of the track. Like the later work of Justin Townes Earle, Morgan Rabenreither can write lovingly, threading his songs with lyrical passages and gorgeously melodic moments that prevent Gold Star from dwelling overlong in the dark.
The upbeat chug of "Fade Away" buoys the collection: Someday you know we're gonna get lucky / Sometime we're gonna get a break / Hold on for that day. While Gold Star is Rabenreither's vision, these largely live recordings ring with the sound of a full band, more War On Drugs than Ryan Adams. "Wild Boys" drawls like the Futurebirds. The record closes with an anthemic statement of devotion in "Look Around You", the singer repeating, Look around you / Look around you / Look for me.
Despite the sonic similarities with Big Blue, the organic arrangements and the more grounded sonics, Gold Star's new recordings don't mark a retreat as much as a return, applying the expansive spirit of those recent recordings back to Rabenreither's folk and California country roots. How To Shoot the Moon sounds like LA, with its ambitions and dreams intact, but dusted in the grit and the realities of the everyday.
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