There’s a warm jangle of nostalgia that swirls around Golden Cinema’s new single, “Little Sunscreen.” They even name drop The Beach Boys in the process, evoking images of California sunshine, a world of surfboards, fast cars and bikinis, but the song itself plays out like the silver lining of a cloud with lyrics that paint a picture more like Bonnie and Clyde than The Endless Summer.
Golden Cinema build up the idea of a reckless romance on the run, with lines like: “With everyone around her braking fast/What’s a racer left to do?/We’ll lose them all on the backroads/to give us something to do.” The warm tone of the song and tasty harmonies belie a youthful sense of imperviousness, or at least blissful ignorance, and a belief that all might be made right in their worlds with a thin layer of sunscreen to protect them.
It might have been the work of Brian Wilson himself, but Golden Cinema are no slouches either. Split between Prince Edward Island and Ontario, band members Andy MacDonald (vocals/bass) and Derek Ellis (drums), Chris Robison (guitar) and Dan Griffin (keys) are already readily recognizable as past members of Two Hours Traffic, Arkells, and North Lakes.
“We recorded drums, bass and vocals at Joel Plaskett’s New Scotland Yard in Dartmouth, NS, and then sent the tracks to Chris and Dan who recorded their parts at Taurus Recording with Thomas D’arcy (Small Sins) in Toronto,” says MacDonald.
“At this point, we are getting used to recording remotely like this and I think in a lot of ways it can lead to a better recording. We have more time to sit with the tracks and strategize on how to make the song the best it can be.”
The new single is the kick-off to their upcoming full-length album, REELS (2016-2021)—a combined release of their two previous digital EPS, the self-titled Golden Cinema EP (2016, and their Peachy Keen EP (2019)—available on July 23. The album will be Golden Cinema’s first release in a physical format of any variety.