The great Goldrush of '07

Not to be confused with the Californian Gold Rush of the mid 19th century, Goldrush is a quartet that hails from Oxford, England who have been putting out music since 2002 with their debut release on Truck Records titled Extended Play. Since then they've put out a second album (Ozona) and just released a third, The Heart Is the Place, yesterday.

Robin Bennett of Goldrush says about the album: "By the time of the Truck Festival, when our small village becomes Woodstock for a weekend, we were spending all our time building stages, and the record was still being worked on. I noticed things creeping in - other worlds past, future and supernatural, magic realism. These were literary influences that I could no longer avoid. A character, or series of characters, seemed to move through the songs in a ghostly way. Our music was no longer set in America, or its music. It was in our own location and our own minds. The record became about all these things, and the relation of love to mental collapse… A battle against material constraints and shallow emotions.’ DH Lawrence. Aldous Huxley. Jack Kerouac. But, especially, a strange charity shop book called 'reflections on life after life', by Raymond A Moody MD, an American doctor dedicated to researching near-death experiences and detailing regular themes. Recurrences such as a warm bright light, a city of light. A presence of love."

I couldn't have said it better myself Robin. Anyone who name-drops the great beatnik Kerouac deserves to have their album prosper in an anti-materialistic sort of way. So throw on your beret, grow out your goatee, and go forth and buy (or go forth, click, and buy). And is it just me, or does their album cover remind you of the cover for Radiohead's single, High and Dry?


Goldrush - Goodbye Cruel World : The Heart Is the Place

Goldrush - Heaven's My Destination : The Heart Is the Place

Want to hear more? Stream the entire album on the band's Myspace page.

and here's one from their last release...

Goldrush - Wait for the Wheels : Ozona

Check out their older material on eMusic.

Visit their website, their label Truck Records, and become their friend on MySpace.