GOLDENBOY

Formed in 2002 by singer-composer-guitarist-keyboardist Shon Sullivan (Elliott Smith, Eels, the Rentals, Spain) and drummer Bryan Bos in suburban Diamond Bar, CA, Goldenboy’s 2003 debut Blue Swan Orchestra was a KCRW favorite that featured guest vocals by Elliott Smith on “Summertime”; Blue Swan has just been re-issued on the Eenie Meenie label, which also released the band’s Underneath the Radio in 2006 and Sleepwalker in 2011.

The New Familiar is Goldenboy’s latest album, and plays like a fond voyage through the ’60s-’90s classics canon. Yet in (non)traditional Goldenboy style it’s loaded with sonic surprises – little twists of the unexpected chord here, an odd time signature there, and always the goosebumping wisp of instrumental texture. Tracks like “The Walking Song” with breathy voices astride keyboard/synth drafts that build with intensity, while the meditative “One of My Moods” and lighthearted “Today Is the Day” and “Steal Your Face” flicker across Sullivan & Co.’s own ever-shifting emotional terrains.

Recorded and produced at Sullivan’s Silverlake studio, The New Familiar saw the forever-touring band sharpening up songs they’d developed over the past two years. They’ve created a piquant sound of quiet urgency and jovial buoyancy that owes both to the group’s affectionate, and ESP-like bond with each other.

“We just keep going, and living in the moment,” says Sullivan. “When you do that, you become really happy.”