Goldenboy Prevails - the soft truth

Goldenboy Prevails

The Soft Truth
self-released; 2014

3.6 out of 5

By Demiera Harris

My first impression upon checking out Goldenboy Prevails! The Soft Truth EP was ‘hey, the cover art is pretty rad…roots and skeletons and stuff…must be a pretty cool EP!’ In fact, I was right. The Soft Truth is seven songs that could easily be the musical journey of a wandering artist’s mind, with each new page serving as a sonic journal entry for the sometimes-scattered thoughts a creative person has. The dirty, grungy acoustics throughout and sometimes tunnel vocals really add to the experience. 

There are some good points and lessons embedded in these tracks, which cause the listener to harken closer to hear every word. “Camouflage” had the great message about people who do things they know aren’t good for them, while still attempting to maintain a façade that everything is okay and they are a functioning member of society (I took it to be a deeper message about addiction, but that could very well just be a singular interpretation).

Some of the songs are positively ethereal; “Forward in Time” and “Healing Without You” blend together to form this out-of-body type experience and you feel like you’re floating above the thoughts described in the song – a truly interesting event indeed. The latter, which also is the closing song, also contains a conglomeration of all of the energy showcased throughout the album and kicks it up to the red zone, serving as the perfect climax of the album while ending it comfortably and on a good note. 

Take special note of “Decomposer” – it is a few moments of absolute genius sandwiched between relative silence and is a bigger tease than most interludes I’ve heard. It reminds me of one of those fleeting thoughts we all typically get, that last for a few seconds and are some of our grandest ideas in life, but then before we’ve had a chance to develop them or even record them they drift away never to be found again. For the shortest song on the album, this one really packed a punch.

 There is a lot of passion and soul in this highly introspective album, which makes it a great listen for anyone who likes something that will touch their emotions and thoughts while still hitting pretty hard. The one thing I noticed was that the vocals seemed to become easily drowned out by the guitars when the strumming became more energetic, making it difficult to follow the lyrics. This is a simple production fix, and can easily be done without compromising any of the aggression. Otherwise, this was a very solid EP and I greatly enjoyed the journey that it took me on.

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