Some other albums from Golden Bloom are Fan the Flames (2009), March to the Drums (2011), and No Day Like Today (2013).

The album starts off with “Looking up to You,” a singer-songwriter staple track. The acoustic guitar and soft maraca in the background make for a fantastic kick-off.  “Circles Round My Mind” keeps the ball rolling by adding some great percussion to the already lush melodies from the first track. The prominent drums continue on “Great Unknown.” It starts off with sweeter vocals, then picks up with some unpredictable chord progressions.

The cleverly titled, “Books You Never Read,” is a slow paced, easy listening track with lyrics that speak to you on another level. “Listen to yourself as you begin to say, ‘tell me everything is gonna be okay'” is one of the lines from the song that really stuck with me after I listened to it. I feel like most of the tracks on this album have a much deeper meaning than they may seem. Golden Bloom picks up the pace again with “Fall Out of Line,” yet again talking about the sucky things of life in a rhythmic, yet direct way. “Racing thoughts just can’t keep up when the walls start caving in” was another beautiful lyric that I could not get out of my head after I heard it on this track.

Full of uplifting and memorable arrangements “Searching for Sunlight” is one of the best songs on the whole album. It is one of those songs that you could listen to on repeat for days. “Come Back Home” was one of my least favorite songs, I did not like the keyboard they added at the beginning and it took too long to get into. Ending the album on a softer more gentle note, “Want Love” pulled me in with more meaningful lyrics about life’s hard truths. After I heard the line, “Weigh your head like a weight upon my shoulder” I replayed it over and over because it was just so relatable.

I recommend this album to everyone–it is just one those albums that are hard not to enjoy even if you do not particularly like this genre of music. It is feel-good, downright amazing music that you can listen to any time of the day, in any mood. If you are sad and want to sulk there are songs on this album that will make you ponder your thoughts for hours. But if you want a quick pick me up, or are having a grand ole time there are tracks on there that will make you want to dance around wherever you’re at. I give this album a 9/10, make sure you give it a listen!

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Carl Sagan: This song is very easy to listen to. It has a really good melody; not too fast, not too slow. And the mix of the instruments slightly reminds me of something that would be played in the seventies. The lyrics are clear and easy to make out, which is really important to me. The vocals are why you want to listen to this song, though. It has a lot going for it, but the vocals are amazing. The way the singer travels between his chest voice to falsetto is utterly impressive.

Denis, Don’t Wanna See you Cry: This song starts off with the instruments sounding like someone is screaming, which I thought was fitting based on the title. This whiny sound is kept through out the piece. It gives it a techno feel, while maintaining it’s Indie rock identity. This piece has long instrumental solos, which I don’t particularly care for. And when the vocals do come back in, they just repeat the same verse over and over again. Granted, it is a good verse, but I would have liked the song more if it had more substance.

Leave Your Light On: This song has more twang than the others. The first time I heard it, I imagined it being sang in a run down bar with only old men drinking their beer to listen. It just has that far away sound that you find in a live performance. The vocals are crazy good. He is able to travel through his range without any hesitation. The music aspect of this song is really great, but I had a hard time understand what it was about. Which of course isn’t always necessary, but I do enjoy that aspect. I think if I could really understand what was going on, it would have really sold me on the song.

Border On Border: This song starts off with a great and poppy electric guitar solo. It really got me pumped up for what was going to come next. The vocals are a lot more whiny in this song compared to the others, which some artists can’t pull off, but this band really makes it work. My favorite part in this piece was when the instruments died down so the vocals could really stand out, then a few seconds later, the same poppy electric guitar came back in. It gave me goosebumps.

Kind Luck: This song reminded me of something behind it’s time. The vocals reminded me of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA,” because they both have that raspy feel to it at the beginning. This song was one of my favorites from the album, mostly because the lyrics are so crispy and easy to make out. Everything about this song really works, whether it is the clear lyrics, great  vocals, or the subtle acoustic guitar in the background.

Hiding in the Melody: This song features the high falsettos as well. Seriously so good. I can’t get over how well he changes his voice. There is even a part in the song where he creates a full but whiny sound. I think this song is my favorite on the album, mostly because of the insanely impressive vocals, but also because the melody keeps you on your toes and the lyrics are touchingly poetic. This song is by far the longest in the album, but I promise you will enjoy all seven minutes of it.

Staurolite Stroll: The beginning of this song really reminded me of the song by Maxine Nightingale, Right Back Where We Started From. Even the vocals kind of take you back in time. Really a great song. Understated yet excellent.

Alabama: I love the way this song starts, it is all high, airy falsetto and it is so well done. I can’t even put into words how good the vocals are in this song. It goes from high falsetto to something that sounds like Elton John to something entirely different. Seriously, everything about this song is utterly beautiful. Even the lyrics are touchingly insightful. If you are to check out any song on this album, check out this one. You won’t regret it, I promise.

Only To Live in your Memories: I loved this song as well. It had the airy vocals, like some of the songs at the beginning of the album, but the lyrics are so much more thought provoking and clear in this song. I can see why they saved this for last, because it truly made me feel something. “And I held on cause I feel love.”

This album was great. I may not listen to every song everyday, mostly because I like to sing along with what I am listening to and I had a hard time making out every lyric in some of the songs, but it definitely made me feel something, which is all you can ask for in an album. There were a few that I down right loved, but all of the songs on the album had something great about them, whether it be the impressive vocals or the fun instruments. If you like what you hear or just want to know more about the band you can follow them on Facebook and Spotify. If you want to see them in concert, their tour dates are on their website.

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day of Mission Creek. They played at Gabe’s, one of my favorite venues here in Iowa City. The show got started about forty minutes after it was supposed to, so while we were waiting for Phat Kat to come on, two DJs whose names I didn’t catch entertained the crowd in the meantime. They were really fun guys that kept the fairly large crowd at that point from getting too impatient. I automatically liked them because they yelled “F**k Donald Trump” in the middle of one of their songs and the whole crowd went crazy. Another interesting thing that happened was one of the DJs even took the time to ask the girl in front of me for her number because she was freaking out so much over him. It was actually pretty cute.

Finally, Phat Kat, a small time rapper from Detroit came on stage. After a little research on the artists beforehand it did not take me long to realize that they all hail from Detroit, Michigan. I am surprised Phat Kat is not more popular than he is. He has an

old-school rap sound that is almost non-existent in today’s hip-hop community. He had a demanding presence on stage and really knew how to get the crowd going. Everyone was jamming along with him and the atmosphere in the place at this point was fantastic.

Up next was Guilty Simpson. He had a very imposing presence and a hard posture, but his rhymes were smooth and flowed with ease. “Hip hop is in the house” was the first thing he announced when he walked onto the stage, before him and Phat Kat rapped together as he closed out his set. He talked a little about how all of the artists that played last night were from Detroit and how we as the crowd were “part of hip-hop history.” Guilty Simpson made it hard for you not to watch him because his sheer size demanded your

attention. He kept the crowd rolling until the next act.

After Guilty Simpson was Black Milk, whose beats are notorious. He was even discovered by Slum Village and produced a track on their 2002 mixtape “Dirty District.” Black Milk is an excellent artist. I do understand why his beats are so famous because he had the crowd moving around the whole time during his set. I don’t think I saw one person standing still, which was a pretty

big accomplishment because the crowd was almost doubled in size by the time he came on. I couldn’t even get a decent picture of him performing because I kept getting bumped into every time I tried to take one. He kept everyone’s attention, especially mine, and he was pretty cute which helped.

Lastly, Slum Village closed down the party with their old-school, hip-hop funk sound. Pretty much everyone in the crowd was rapping along with them to every song. They definitely brought the biggest crowd. They were constantly moving all around the stage and like all the other acts, brought the party atmosphere in the room to an all-time high. It was pretty late at this point; the show went till about 2 am but I wasn’t 100% sure because my phone died after Black Milk’s set. They still kept the ball rolling and ended it on a high note leaving the crowd satisfied.

Overall this was a fantastic show. I was a little apprehensive at first because I don’t listen to much hip-hop/rap but I thoroughly enjoyed myself and would definitely see any of the artists again if I got the chance.

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