The Roof Beam Carpenters - golden hill

The Roof Beam Carpenters

Golden Hill
self-released; 2014

3.8 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Anyone touring musician knows that being on the road can be a grueling process. You’re usually always tired, waking up in different cities and by about the second month are longing for your own bed. The process is probably all too familiar for Jon Titterington who spent years on the road before recruiting a lineup of players to form his band called The Roof Beam Carpenters. They recorded a five-song EP entitled Occupation and recently completed their first full-length entitled Golden Hill. 

Golden Hill is an immediately accessible album that is indie pop at its finest. Titterington has a soothing, attractive almost child-like voice that is bound to draw some comparisons to Ben Gibbard. Musically, there is a lot to enjoy here as well. The music is well produced, occasionally rocks out and often finds a unique combination of sound to keep you entertained throughout the album. 

The first song “The Well” is a somber opener but nonetheless a very striking piece. The guitars are lightly strummed against a steady beat leaving a spacious verse for the vocals to shine. Once the chorus hits the bass comes providing a robust low end. As soon as the verse pops up against atmospheric guitars it paint an immersive almost eerie type of ambience.

“Make Me Stone” is more upbeat and contains some very welcome keys into the mix. At this point I was really starting to appreciate the vocal style of Titterington. His voice sounded good against melancholy but even better against poppy goodness. The chorus is pretty darn catchy.

“Back Bar” has some of the most impressive instrumental and structural elements on the album. There's a combination of bright guitars, keys, feedback and delay that glimmer. “Building Houses” is almost entirely a piano and vocal piece while “Call It A NiIght” may be the most infectious song on the album.

The songs on Golden Hill go down easy. It’s unpretentious fun that gets balanced out with a good amount of melancholy. 

Become A Fan

official website