About Us - Jacob Golden

My name is Jacob Golden. I’m an indie singer/songwriter with an equal love for Nick Drake and The National. I make dark folk songs with psychedelic undertones. I don’t care about having a nice haircut or wearing trendy shoes; I care about writing good songs and connecting with people, and I pour my entire heart into my songs - it is what I’m meant to do. I’m based in Sacramento CA but I’ve spent most of my time in England where I was previously signed to Rough Trade Records by founder Geoff Travis (The Smiths, The Fall, Antony and The Johnsons) and The Echo Label (Bat for Lashes, Ray Lamontagne). Mojo called my last album, “Revenge Songs”, “the most gorgeous break-up record since Beck’s ‘Sea Change’” and Jools Holland had me on his TV show. My third album, and my first to be released in the US, is called “The Invisible Record”, out on January 22nd on my own imprint Zero Integrity Records.

Recorded in a Portland, Oregon basement and later in my home studio in Sacramento, California, I wrote all the songs, produced the album and played all the instruments myself because that’s the way I like to do things. The sound of the album was really important to me - I really like mixing Lo-fi and Hi-fi performances together. I ran my voice and guitars through amps and old speakers I'd found at thrift stores and on craigslist.  “All In A Day’s Work” was recorded literally minutes after I wrote it: I flipped open my laptop and pressed ‘record’ using the built-in microphone, and that’s what you hear on the album. The sound is very noisy, you can hear all kinds of things in the background. There’s another song called “Horse”, about the ride, the struggle, the work, the people, the fall, the darkness and standing up and doing it again, that includes an ear-splitting scream from my six-month-old daughter August (don’t worry, she’s ok!).

I took the same approach to making videos. For “Life and Death Can’t Change That” I combed through a pile of amazing old film footage that fell into the public domain to make a DIY collage video. I really love the process, looking for those moments when you take something completely out of its original context and re-frame it. The couple in the first clip was filmed by Thomas Edison himself in what is believed to be the very first kiss caught on film. For another video, for the song “Book Of Ages”, I asked my fans to send in pictures or film of themselves with a book that they love and edited them all together.

To say I felt a little bit of pressure making this album is quite an understatement. “The Invisible Record” had a difficult birth. It seriously almost never happened.  There were so many times I thought about just erasing my hard drive. I was facing some heavy thoughts. I felt like a failure and I let that get to me.  I even wrote a song about it, called “Bluebird” - it’s on the album.  There were years at a time when I couldn’t even pick up my guitar, couldn't sing a note.  I've been working on this thing off and on for the last seven years. That's kind of misleading because I did throw it out and start from scratch a number of times. Then there was that time when I quit singing and started running long distance for several years - I guess I needed to trade in one kind of suffering for another. It took me a long time to forget about ‘the career’ and rediscover how much I love to write songs and record.  

Anyway, I’ve finally finished it and I hope you like it. It means a lot to me.

Press and Media Request: contactjacobgolden@gmail.com

LOVE FOR - THE INVISIBLE RECORD:

“I’ve been a fan of Jacob since his first album. This is his most realized and developed work to date. His sense of atmosphere and instrumentation is always beautiful and evocative. Songs like “Bluebird” and “Tomorrow Never Knows on the 45” tell his story with rich vocals and strong imagery. ……” Joe Chiccarelli (White Stripes, Spoon, Morrissey)