VIDEO PREMIERE: Wildflower Pen Love Song to California with Sunny Psych-folk on “Golden”

The songs of Wildflower are always about place. Written by singer and guitarist Adrian O’Barr on the coast of Maine, they often tell stories of travel, seeking to find the intersection where past meets present. They are walking songs; they are riding songs; they are “wind in your hair” songs; they are songs of endless change.

On their new album, The Ocean Rose, due out September 10th via Night Bloom Records, Wildflower builds a miniature world of nostalgia and wonder. The two distinct halves of the record try to reconcile the revelations of traveling and making a home, interwoven with and haunted by the realities of a changing climate. Filled with West coast fever dreams, blooming summer roses, and the simple pleasures of life on the Atlantic ocean, the album details a search for an elusive paradise on earth, no matter how fleeting or small.

Made up of five close friends, Wildflower performs the songs with a simple and powerful collective warmth. Having honed their sound and deepened their friendship playing up and down the coast of Maine and across the country, every instrument and melody is given space and love. Recorded by Seth Manchester at Machines with Magnets in the Summer of 2020, The Ocean Rose recalls the early 70’s fragility of Neil Young with its focus on openness and live performances. Kacey Johansing and Michael Nau provide beautiful backing vocals to complete the sound.

Today Glide is excited to premiere the video for “Golden,” one of the standout songs on the new album. Featuring blissed out, psychedelic guitars and dream-folk vocals, the song encapsulates the sunny skies of California as it is a love letter to the state where it gets its name. Musically, there is a twangy and lethargic groove that allows Adrian O’Barr’s singing to really shine. The video incorporates grainy and colorful footage of a rugged and beautiful coast, presumably in Northern California, and it’s hard not to get the travel bug from watching it while also listening to the mellow and infectious psych-folk sounds conjured up by this talented band. 

Adrian O’Barr describes the inspiration behind the tune:

“Golden is a love song to California, where my father was born, with each verse representing a different part of the state. From the cliffs of Big Sur, to the streets of San Francisco, and canyons of LA, it traces a journey I took on my bicycle in my early 20’s, each landscape revealing something unexpected. Written as a capstone to all of the California songs on “The Ocean Grows,” it is about the feeling and revelation of movement.”

WATCH:

Photo credit: Ty Ueda

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