Goldbug is the moniker of Irish/French artist Danilo Ward. Goldbug's story starts in the stagnant waters of an abandoned well, thriving but neglected since many summers ago; in the ugly oak tree, hollow and dying, yet a house for the living. Fascinated by insects, but just a little more by music, he relocated from the rural French countryside of Provence to Dublin city. Alongside playing bass in guitar bands (such as of all living things and Echo Northstar), it is there he patently crafted a collection of songs inspired by the isolated landscape of his upbringing, and all the creatures that call it home. Now living in the city, but nostalgic for his quiet youth, Goldbug found peace in creating songs that twist and turn to unfamiliar places, lush with sweeping strings, splashes of brass, dusty mellotrons, and his soft, hazy voice. Through delicately woven songs, Goldbug learns about the world and his place in all of it. Ambient sound collages, manipulated vibraphones, and heavy reverb soaked guitars are all a part of the one organism, hellbent not on surviving, but on thriving, in the murky waters of adulthood. Co-produced with Chris W Ryan (NewDad, Chalk, Just Mustard), and mastered by Heba Kadry (Bjork, Big Thief, Sufan Stevens), Pendulum, Goldbug's second single, follows an art rock tradition, with a sound that nods as much to the expansive compositions of Talk Talk as it does to the retro-nostalgia of Boards of Canada. Pendulum is at its core a sprawling piano sonata of sorts. Inspired by the musical onomatopoeia of the Bambi Disney Soundtrack, musical phrases and tones mimic the sounds of the weather. Rolling pianos are like a steady rain, choral oos project images of a wind swept landscape, and splashes of brass like thunder on humid summer evenings. An ambiguous chord progression, teetering on the edge between major and minor, dissipates into a spellbinding outro – an ethereal world where reverb-soaked bowed guitars, glitchy vocal samples, and percussive drums are all anchored by a piano solo. A reminder that nothing is ever constant – as the wind parts the clouds, warm rays of sun peak through – there is hope yet.
Goldbug will be performing with the Crash Ensemble June 15th at the National Concert Hall as part of Music Town, an event curated by Foggy Notions and supported by the Dublin City Council. With arrangements by the Crash Ensemble's Barry O'Halpin, this collaborative performance will showcase an interpretation of Goldbug's upcoming debut album Swings & Roundabouts, due in Autumn this year.
Boards of Canada - Happy Cycling
I have tested and can verify that Happy Cycling is a great song to cycle to. Music Has The Right To Children is my favourite electronic record and I could say favourite record full stop. I often think - can a record with no singing/lyrics be my favourite? But Boards of Canada create such a world to get lost in, why sing melody and lyrics when you can get a seagull to feature instead.
Bark Psychosis - Pendulum Man
This ambient closer was my introduction to ambient music. I thought it was so cool to have an ambient piece in a rock record context. At the time it was mind blowing that you could do that, I quickly realised you can do whatever you want - Vibraphone solo in the middle of a song? A song in 7/8 time? Bark Psychosis opened a lot of doors.
These New Puritans - Spiral
This record was produced by Graham Sutton of Bark Psychosis, and the arrangements and mix blow my mind to this day. I love music that is lush and gorgeous but with an underlying eeriness and menace, and this ticks all the boxes. This song really drilled home the feeling that the vibraphone is one of my favourite instruments and that I must spread this good word through my music too.
Robocobra Quartet - Correct
Chris W Ryan of Robocobra Quartet produced and mixed my record. I heard his music and straight away thought I wanted to make my album with him. I could tell he was into horns, more experimental leaning stuff, as well as being really good at more electronic stuff with his side project SORBET - all things that come up in places throughout my record. From first hearing Correct all the way to finishing a full album with Chris, it has been a journey I am super proud and thankful for. I have learnt so much from him.
Battles - Tonto
I became obsessed with Battles and more experimental music when I moved to Ireland at 18 years old, after having initially thought Sweet Disposition was where it was at. Battles threw me down the post rock/math rock hole for a while. I refused to write a song in 4/4 time for a while, and did come out of that hole with several odd time songs on my record, so that's nice.
Wintery Winds - From the Bambi Disney Score
I love this soundtrack, it is nostalgic to me, but it's also super creative. This song is like musical onomatopoeia - I loved how the musical phrases and tones of the choir mimic an icy wind. You'll hear this in my new song Pendulum, where I tried to achieve a similar effect.
Portishead - All Mine
Having been a bassist most of my life, it's easy to fall in love with Portishead's grooves. Elements in their songs sound very raw, kinda bad, but in a great way. When we were making my record, I had never thought of keeping anything from my demos, because I had recorded stuff with little know-how and good equipment at home. I was expecting to go into a studio and record everything from scratch, but Chris thought otherwise. There was a special sound in the demos, and we decided to keep a lot of it, which was a great call from him. The gritty fuzziness to some records is what makes them.
Yo La Tengo - Our Way To Fall
Yo La Tengo just write great songs that hit me in the feels. A band I bonded over with of all living things, with whom I have been playing bass with for years.
Sigur Rós - Svefn-g-englar
I got bored of playing bass for a while and thought of bowing the bass to keep it interesting.. Seeing Sigur Rós bow the guitar and create such cavernous sounds was awesome to see. I picked up a second hand cello bow and started to bow on my bass. Pretty quickly I took the bow to my acoustic guitar one day and thought it sounded quite like violins. The bowed acoustic guitar sound is all over my record, I thought it filled in some gaps in places where I thought a string section would be nice, but did not have the budget to record one. That sound is most obviously on my first single Losing The Swing.
Low - Shame
When I get too caught up in making things complicated, I listen to this.