Such is the nature of the media that Goldspot seem to be getting more coverage than your average West Coast band plugging their debut album, seemingly because frontman Siddartha Khosla is an American citizen of Indian heritage – something remarkably under-represented in US culture. The band are more notable in the UK, where Indian culture is of course ubiquitous, for giving away their album in conjunction with the Sunday Times Culture section (nearly two years after its release in the States). And of course for having their cover of Modest Mouse’s ‘Float On’ featured on the OC...
It isn’t very surprising that the broadsheets are on board with Goldspot. For ‘Tally Of The Yes Men’ puts a premium on classic song writing while retaining a depth of character and remaining just leftfield enough to entice the intellectuals. First track ‘Rewind’ is a case in point. Opening with simply strummed acoustic and Siddartha’s striking voice, it develops into the kind of fully blown sunshine pop song with a trace of wistful melancholy that is hard to ignore.
The album’s third track ‘Friday’ provides something of a centrepiece to the collection, with its inviting orchestral introduction and irresistible chorus. The song takes the age-old premise of enjoying yourself after a week at work that Hard Fi managed to exploit to remarkably popular effect with ‘Living for The Weekend’ and slathers it in Goldspot’s trademark yearning melodies with just a hint of Bollywood. The song’s rebellious theme takes on extra resonance with the seemingly personal line: “Momma can tell me I’m going nowhere, I’m just a prisoner of my faith”, but it is one that is universally understood. Whatever the theme of the song, though, ‘Friday’ is damned near to a perfect pop song.
There are a host of similarly contagious pop tracks on ‘Tally Of The Yes Men’, but the band are equally successful in their quieter moments. The haunting ‘The Guard’ is a beautifully understated and the song’s ending is inspired, while the sparse ‘So Fast’ recalls a number of morose balladeers, from Jeff Buckley to Will Mason. Goldspot slip in some subliminal messages on ‘Rewind’, declaring: “I’m asking you to stay, the words are finally here. Would you rewind it all the time?”, but the LA-based three-piece don’t really need those kind of underhand tactics, as throughout ‘Tally Of The Yes Men’, their music – be it the summery pop of ‘Time Bomb’, ‘Friday’ or single ‘It’s Getting Old’, or the more reflective ‘The Guard’ or ‘So Fast’ – provides an enticing blend of styles that form a coherent, eminently likeable whole.
Siddartha Khosla is clearly a man of mixed influences, with his Indian heritage represented by the odd instrumental tweak, but most notably by a vocal style and voice that grew up singing in Hindu temples. Often, during the course of the album songs build from quiet beginnings to soaring choruses where his voice is at its stunning best, and perhaps it is this voice that is the most important of all the factors that contribute to the album’s success. The influence that comes through strongest, though, is that of the band’s California home – it’s as if there is something in the water at the recording studios out there that invests everything produced with the California sun. Of course this is helped no end by the influence of Beach Boys engineer Jeff Peters on the recording.
At its heart, ‘Tally Of The Yes Men’ is pure West Coast pop and though at times Goldspot threaten to wander into the middle of a road inhabited by the likes of Travis, they are more often reminiscent of the just below the radar lo-fi pop of Modest Mouse or Herman Dune’s recent work. An extremely accomplished debut, Goldspot mix purity of song-craft with some potentially chart-conquering tunes. They show a softer side with some tender ballads but in essence it is an album full of potential summer singles that will hopefully get the airplay they deserve. Pop music. You’ve got to love it.
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