Boy Golden‘s newest record, For Eden, was created in a place that means a great deal to the artist: Onanole, Manitoba. That’s near Brandon, at the south entrance to Riding Mountain National Park.
“I went to my grandparents’ cabin, to write. That’s where I spent a ton of time growing up. I do writing retreats there, and this album came out of that.”
The process was low-tech, and fairly solitary, until working with his bandmates added the finishing touches. “I recorded myself on a cassette machine, and then on an 8-track. I made this album for me, largely by myself, but the songs were completed with friends adding harmonies and percussion. I gathered friends around one microphone.” He says, “I feel like it was solitary in some ways, but a lot of the magic comes from collaboration.”
The song “Burn” was written in one night, during a writing retreat. “It is slow and sweet because it’s my ode to my band and how much I love them. How excellent they are.”
The artist clearly has affection and respect for the people who join him in making music and touring. “I do think that my crew is top-notch. It doesn’t matter what we go through during the day. When we get on stage, we are right there.”
Boy Golden is a stage name, and the artist is growing more comfortable sharing that his “other” name is Liam Duncan. “I’ve only recently started saying that my name is Liam. I wanted the freedom to write whatever I wanted to write, and to be another person. As I have gotten older and become more of a complete human being, I am more comfortable with Liam. This album, For Eden, is the most personal. It’s the most Liam there has ever been in a Boy Golden album.”
Boy Golden recently played North Country Fair, and he’ll be at the Canmore Folk Music Festival and the Edmonton Folk Music Festival in August. For a full list of show dates, go to boygolden.ca
Hear “Burn,” from Boy Golden‘s new album, For Eden.
