GOLDRUSH - the heart is the place

In 2005, GoldRush was named by Rolling Stones, "2005 Artist to Watch" with their release of Ozona. Two years later, they are still relatively unknown in America. Hailing from the U.K. GoldRush are a major part of the Truck Festival hosted in their hometown, Steventon. With three full CD releases under their belt, their newest album "The Heart is the Place" is something to listen to. Pop Matters calls it, "The Heart is the Place contains some stunning tracks, including the more upbeat "Everyone One of Us," and the beautiful "24 Hours." While the instrumentation is solid and inventive."

Recently making an appearance at SxSW, GoldRush played six times at the festival. In May they will be touring throughout Europe. Maybe they will book a tour to the U.S. I would definitely be interested in seeing them live.

Some highlights off their current CD:

Every One of Us:

• A very up-beat, catchy song similar to Coldplay or Keane. Actually, it kinda sounds like a copy of their stuff. I don't know who came first so not sure who's copying who. Because it sounds similar to them, I really like it. This isn't rocket-science. The guitar riffs are exciting and definitely propel the song forward. This song seems to be the most likely to land on the radio. You can actually download it off their website for free here.
  

Can't Give Up the Ghost

• This song features Robin and Joe Bennett's vocals. They are brothers so their voices mix very well together. They have a rough edge to their vocals that make it raw and not over produced. I love the haunting quality of this song.
  

24 Hours

• Definitely my favorite. The rhythm/piano part is the best. It's original. The sustained guitar "noise" and electronicism makes this track stand out over the others on the CD. The steady pulse gives this song a hypnotic trance-like adventure for the listener. This is already in my "top 25" playlist for the week.
  

Heaven's My Destination

• Instantly this track stands out with the beginning intro by a luscious strings accompaniment. This is followed by a levels of percussion (including the xylophone), drum set, guitar and piano. The strings continue playing a beautiful melodic motive throughout the piece. At times this motive is transferred over to the xylophone and then to voice. The orchestrations of this piece truly capture something inspirational.
  

The Heart is the place

• This is where you get the french horn that you see in the picture above. (I was wondering where this would play.) Though the french horn playing isn't the best, it still gives this band something unique and refreshing. The repeating eighth note beat in the rhythm is something we haven't heard yet on the CD. Not my favorite but interesting to listen.
  

Songs to skip:

• Aperture - Basically an intro into "The Story of the City." Not interesting.
  
• Goodbye Cruel World - Didn't feel like it was going anywhere
• Sun in Your Eyes - A big fake rock song with a lot of horns playing bizarre notes. Not really into the electric guitar solo.

Overall, something this is a record that you could probably download some of the songs off of iTunes. There seems to be a song for everyone on this record. Each song has different instrumentation which gives GoldRush the uniqueness it's looking for. Though instead of feeling unique, it ends up being disjunct and therefore hard to listen to. I bet in a live show their music would instantly be more cohesive. Cut the french horn and you'll soon be back on the "2007 Artist to Watch" list for Rolling Stone. Maybe then, someone will listen.