''The Golden Age'' is the 9th studio album released by

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

-based

sadcore Sadcore is a subgenre occasionally identified by music journalists to describe examples of alternative rock characterised by bleak lyrics, downbeat melodies and slower tempos, or alternatively, songs with deceivingly upbeat melodies that are simu ...

and

slowcore Slowcore is a subgenre of alternative rock and indie rock. The music of slowcore artists is generally characterized by bleak lyrics, downbeat melodies, slower tempos and minimalist arrangements. Slowcore is often used interchangeably with the ...

band

American Music Club American Music Club was an American, San Francisco-based indie rock band, led by singer-songwriter Mark Eitzel. Formed in 1983, the band released seven albums before splitting up in 1995. They reformed in 2003 and released two further albums. ...

. The album is the band's second after a 10-year hiatus that ended in 2004. The album is an effort by the band to experiment more in their music. The album was produced by

Dave Trumfio David Trumfio (born August 16, 1968) is an American record producer, mixer, engineer and musician, best known for his production work with artists such as Wilco and his recordings with his own band The Pulsars. Production work Trumfio grew u ...

, who has also worked for bands such as

Wilco Wilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently d ...

and

My Morning Jacket My Morning Jacket is an American rock band formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1998. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Jim James, bassist Tom Blankenship, drummer Patrick Hallahan, guitarist Carl Broemel, and keyboardist Bo Koster. The ...

Critical reception

The album was released to generally positive critical reviews with a score of 80 (out of 100) on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

Recording

The album was recorded over two months at Kingsize Studios in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

with Dave Trumfio, who also recorded Wilco's '' Summerteeth'' album. Frontman

Mark Eitzel Mark Eitzel (born January 30, 1959) is an American musician, best known as a songwriter and lead singer of the San Francisco band American Music Club. Biography Eitzel spent his formative years in a military family living in Okinawa, Taiwan, Ohi ...

began writing the songs that appear on the Golden Age in 2005, though recording didn't begin until 2007.

Track listing

#"All My Love" (5:10) #"The John Berchman Victory Choir" (2:53) #"The Decibels and the Little Pills" (5:41) #"The Sleeping Beauty" (3:58) #"The Stars" (5:17) #"All the Lost Souls Welcome You to San Francisco" (2:43) #"Who You Are" (4:31) #"The Windows on the World" (6:11) #"One Step Ahead" (3:33) #"The Dance" (3:17) #"I Know That's Not Really You" (3:52) #"On My Way" (5:13) #"The Grand Duchess of San Francisco" (2:46)

Personnel

*Mark Eitzel - vocals, guitars, keyboards *Mark "Vudi" Pankler - guitars, accordion, keyboards *Sean Hoffman - bass guitar, backing vocals, guitar *Steve Didelot - drums, percussion, backing vocals, guitar with *Danny Levin - horns *Jason Borger - keyboards *Leyla Akdogan - additional vocals on "The John Berchman Victory Choir"

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Golden Age, The American Music Club albums 2008 albums