Golden State reads like a script of what Hollywood thinks an up-and-coming indie rock band should be. Hailing from Los Angeles (a California band calling itself Golden State? How original), the band writes anthemic songs which make their way into television shows and movie soundtracks with the ease of Lindsay Lohan passing through rehab (or prison, take your pick). The band even has a song promoting an Apple product. It’s for the iPad, the song’s called “Let It Touch You.”
I did not make that up.
So I approached Division, Golden State’s full-length debut album, with a bit of trepidation. Can a band built on such contrivance connect in a way which doesn’t feel fake? The short answer is yes, though I couldn’t help but feel the band was trying to push products while working for my affection.
Paced by the vocal stylings of James Grundler (who strikes me as a top 10 singer during a season of American Idol), Division opens up with the U2-like “World on Fire,” a song of driving drums with an arpeggio guitar strum underneath. The song expands and contracts as if on cue, melodic and blatantly obvious, but not half bad. It might be used to sell hot wings.
“Light Speed” you’ve heard a million times before, a sweeping epic with more modern rock cliches than numbers in Pi — but I bet that song kills live. “All Roads Lead Home” has the boys on the ballad bus, as Grundler sings “I don’t want to go that way/ Surrender hope and faith again.” The song chugs along ably and hits all the right climatic music moments. Coming to an Amtrak campaign near you.
But it’s at “Sink or Swim,” and the subsequent songs “Destroyer” and “The Outsiders,” where the band steps away from a selling and into a more purposeful mode. The trio of songs are varied and engaging: “Sink or Swim” carries a Radiohead vibe, circa The Bends; “Destroyer” is grungy and explosive, think Muse meets the Black Angels; “The Outsiders” is noisy and messy which gives it charm — the band doesn’t have to always be right on note for a song to succeed. The album reverts into television show background music soon enough — if “Save Me” doesn’t show up near the end of Grey’s Anatomy, I’ll be shocked.
There are snippets of originality despite the banality, and as a start Golden State has potential. But the band needs to be wary of the company it keeps, because being called a sell out before you even start is no way to stage a career. Unless you want fries with that.
