Laura Kerry
With Labor Day looming, now is that manic time of summer when you try to fit everything in at the last minute. You say yes to that spontaneous show, that impromptu drink, that ill-planned trip to the beach, and the whole thing—despite the occasional exhaustion—is energizing and a little wild.
This is the perfect backdrop for the release of Goldmines’ new single, “Shadow.” The Cleveland-based garage-rock band put out a self-titled EP at the beginning of summer with Wax Mage and Quality Time Records, but they refused to call it quits for the season: “Shadow” is the second bonus track off of a special Dadstache Records tape edition of the EP, coming out in September. The foursome themselves began as a sort of bonus—a reshuffling of the members of Cleveland’s beloved HotChaCha after the lead singer left town—but with their debut full-length, DRAG (2013), and this latest EP, Mandy Look, Heather Gmucs, Jeanna Lax, and Roseanna Safos have proven themselves worthy of calling themselves the main event.
“Shadow” is similarly satisfying. With a catchy guitar hook that both twangs and thrashes, a noisy wall of sound, and raspy, shouted vocals, it grabs you immediately and pulls you along with your head bopping—all the way until a quiet pause towards the end after a particularly crazed guitar section. Finally, true to the season, the song picks up again for one last epic hoorah before it fades out into a well-earned calm.