We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Golden Hymns Sing ‘Hurrah’. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Golden Hymns below.

Golden Hymns, appreciate you joining us today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?

In the world of both live and recorded sound, the unexpected should not just always be expected, but always be embraced – In live environments, the minor fluctuations in rhythm, dynamic, timbre and in the intangible musical “thing” people might call soul/vibe all calculate together to make each performance, each moment a unique momentary thing – it exists in that moment, for that moment and then is gone forever.

In recorded sound, where you are ostensibly allowed to stop, roll-back re-record, quantize to perfection and edit away the details until you’ve got a perfectly chiseled piece of marble, I think an unexpected problem can lead to glorious opportunity – An errant humming frequency on a recording can be edited out, and in fixing this, you remove the upper frequencies leading to a darker, more brooding sound. In the midst of a take, a wrong note might become in fact the right note if, as the listener, the performer can hear new prospective music from the mistake.

Issues can create limitations and in limitations, there can new creative resolutions to problems found… You just need to be able to look for them.

Golden Hymns, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started making music sometime around 2011 in an attempt to steer my high school band from it’s inevitable oblivion, as all high school bands are prophesized, we self-destructed in our final year of school, but I kept at it writing a hundred little songlets before getting into recording, first by sticking a conference microphone into the soundhole of an acoustic guitar then mixing music for local go-nowhere-bands — Then, with my first paycheck purchasing genuine recording equipement and microphones.

While typically I have done this by myself, for myself, at no cost – I have had the opportunity to work with others, both collaboratively, assisting them with their projects, or with them helping on ours. It has been important to me that any working relation be equitable, fair and transparent – I will generally work for free if I believe in the music, or the performer as most transactionary, business-like relations are, in my opinion inherently predatory.

With regards to Pride, I’ve antithetical to it, against my best interests – I am often asked, with regards to this project or another that I must feel some pride in what I have done, but I’ve generally found that the moment you find yourself content with something, you stunt yourself. The hunger itself is a sort of propellant that compels you march ever-forward into the next thing. The result of this though, is that without an expressed endgame, there can be no victory as no objective is set. Everything is failure where there is no possible victory…. So maybe pride isn’t the worst thing.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Nick: The process is the primary reward, I think that that, and especially in the case of improvised music, the unconscious, unintended or only-semi-informed synchronicities between players makes a kind of multiplicative force where everyone operates greater than the sum of the individuals.

Tom: Most rewarding aspect would be the moments when we are preforming and it’s all synced up and resonating the feeling of that is absolutely unreal and indescribable. And seeing other people in the room feeling the same things, vibing and just being able to connect in a way that really doesn’t happen enough imo.

Vinny: The most rewarding aspect of being a creative, especially working alongside other people, is seeing how much improvement comes from collaboration. Seeing my ideas come to life differently than I initially pictured them makes them feel much more real. Playing music alongside other people is such a uniquely organic and emotional experience that few other things are able to parallel.

Joe: As someone who is not very good at expressing myself, being a creative allows me to open up and project emotions in a way where I don’t feel self-conscious about how I look, talk, or sound. A musical setting is the only place where I feel comfortable throwing out the first idea that comes into my head without any hesitation. I have never regretted putting out an idea to my friends/bandmates.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Nick: Creativity is not always some ephemeral thing that presents itself from the ether, nor is it entirely reliant on innate skill – You can, and will encounter mental blocks and you may simply be unable to navigate their tight mental corridors. You can however, invite different kinds of thinking to provide yourself with a path forward… Something like Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies can help recontextualize whatever you’re doing with a seemingly random question pointed at the project your working on… Alternatively, and less esoterically… Just having another person you can ask for their input on, might help you think of your project differently than you ever could have…

Tom: As for other people and fans or listeners that have trouble letting the creative flow go. It’s a natural occurrence and you have to let it do its own thing. You fight against the flow it’s going to fight back. Let it take you and experiment as you go. It’s an open world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://goldenhymns.bandcamp.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldenhymnssing/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoldenHymnsSingHurrah
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/goldenhymns
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@goldenhymnssinghurrah4194

Image Credits
Photos taken by Sean Raynor, Internal Vision https://www.instagram.com/internal.vision/?hl=en