With more than a decade's worth of festival headlining and churning out consistently delightful riffs and attitude-laden records, Melbourne trio Kingswood have solidified themselves as staples in Australia's homegrown alternative rock landscape. Their extensive timeline is peppered with heart-racing hints of animated acts such as The Hives and Queens of the Stoneage, as well as cues from hard-hitting bygone metal, classic-, blues- and glam rock.
It seems almost counter-intuitive, then, for the gritty alternative veterans to produce something as subdued and criminally smooth as "Golden", but, instead of a veering melodic U-turn, the track rather comes across as an inevitable auditory exploration by artists who are masterful enough in their craft to do so. Where Alex Laska's explosive guitar riffs would previously have set the mood for a hard rock onslaught, a seductive bass guitar now features alongside a soulful beat and swooning brass instruments, while Laska's usual distorted lead guitar is traded for an incredible diamond-cut solo later in the track. Like his string-plucking bandmate, lead vocalist Fergus Linacre shines just as well in this stint with silken blues as his depth is complimented beautifully by a persistent falsetto from backing vocalist Justin Debrincat, all on top a melancholic organ which would be more at home in a Louisiana blues joint than Kingswood's usual festival setup.
"Golden" is an unusual but thoroughly promising taste of Kingswood's upcoming album After Hours, Close to Dawn, which drops on March 3rd.
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