reviews / 2009

SUNSET - Gold Dissolves To Gray

Name: SUNSET – Gold Dissolves To Gray
Item: Gold Dissolves To Gray
Rating: 6
Author: Francesco Nunziata

2009 (Autobus)

psychedelic pop

by Francesco Nunziata

Having lost the curly brackets along the way, Bill Baird certainly hasn't lost his desire to keep making records.

If the excellent "Bright Blue Dream" often reached out to touch the invisible substance of otherworldly realms, "Gold Dissolves To Gray" is, on the whole, a more "earthbound" work, anchored to a vision of psychedelic pop that, even if it doesn't shy away, in sporadic cases, from relying on strange substances to make contact with parallel realities, keeps intact the idea of a backward journey through the labyrinths of the Texan musician's musical memory.

In these winding paths, we'll encounter the Beach Boys on a trip to VanDyke Parks' studio ("Fishtown"), or lying in a field with the Beatles, watching planes disappear into the distance (the delightful "Rivers Of Babylon"), guitars that slyly let Byrds-ian ghosts surface in "Our Dreams Did Weave A Shade", or the nostalgic visions of Pink Floyd beyond the easygoing swagger of the title track.

"Gold Dissolves To Gray" is a record out of another era. A record that digs up country and dyes it with soul on "Civil War", with a western tint in the upbeat "Sandy My Love", then lets it loosen up, banjo leading the dance, on "Hill Country Smog". There's even room for a piano ballad with a whiff of Randy Newman ("Pocketful of Debt") and for vaudeville ("Garden Of Eden", "Green Truck").

Not on the level of the previous records, but it's still worth a listen.

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05/12/2009

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Francesco Nunziata, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition