Gold Beach makes sense as a moniker. These songs shine with the glint of gold, but they’re also surprisingly soft and malleable, shifting from one moment to the next. Imagine an entire beach comprised of thousands of granules of sand-like gold particles. Gold Beach is an indie rock band, a soul band, and experimental pop band; really, you never know what the next song’s going to bring. I think Michael Winningham wants it that way. He strikes me as the sort of guy who likes to keep others on their toes.
His band has released some material previously, including a full-length back in 2011, but he’s the only person who can really be called a continuous member of the band. For the purposes of Gold Beach’s upcoming full-length Ryou Cannon, Winningham has assembled quite the band for playing live shows. I covered Winningham’s previous band The Glass Family almost a decade ago and showed up at the recently opened Studium venue on East 5th without knowing who else was in the band. Mother Falcon’s Claire Puckett and Marmalakes Josh Halpern handle guitar and drums respectively, to help round out this solid lineup. It’s pretty remarkable that Winningham was able to snag such sharp talent for the project.
Onstage, Winningham himself generally avoids instruments, seeking instead to dance and wrestle dramatically with the mic stand. At one point he leans off the front of the stage and jabs the microphone and stand out into the crowd. The songs move between fuzzed out rockers and soulful pop numbers. However, the song the band is there to celebrate, “Impression,” is a distant, minimalist song with austere synths and thin, 80s-era drum machine. The track is available now via Accrue Cassettes’ bandcamp page, and you can stream it below. We’re looking forward to hearing the rest of Ryou Cannon and seeing what the future brings for this band of talented Austin musicians.
Jesse Woods played directly before Gold Beach with a set of somber folk songs. Accompanied by a bassist, woods performed seated as he fingerpicked and crooned through a series of traditional tunes. Check out more photos from the night following the track embed. All photographs © Bryan C. Parker & Pop Press International; all rights reserved. Click any image to open in slideshow viewer.
