It's been three years since Golden Daze released their last album Simpatico. Today, Ben Schwab and Jacob Loeb have returned with their first new music since then with a single called "Nobody Else," along with a video directed by Gemma Warren. It's a warm halo of a song—winding guitars that mimic the curving roads around a mountain, a soft brush of harmonizing vocals, twangy guitar riffs that feel like a burst of sun.
“Simpatico posed a question that now we need to answer,” Loeb says about the single. “This new song feels like a bridge between that record and whatever comes next. The song is in some ways about stepping into the role of a support, someone to lean on, maybe for someone who’s always been there to lean on."
Watch the scenic video below, and read on for our short Q&A with the band.
How did "Nobody Else" begin to take shape?
Some songs just kind of write themselves—this one was like that. There was a clear intention and idea to communicate, and the music to communicate that with always felt more or less within arms reach. The elements just kind of swung into place.
"Nobody Else" sounds like y'all are moving away from the dreamier, shoegaze-lite sounds that you've played with in the past. The recording sounds closer and clearer. How did that evolution in sound come about?
Our trajectory has been kind of backwards in that our first album, which was really dreamy and saturated, was in many ways our “departure” record. since releasing that album we’ve basically been steadily returning home, working our way back to how the project initially began which was more songwriting-focused with stripped back arrangements.
I love how the video captures the constant movement that's central to the lyrics. I was wondering if you could give more insight to that theme and that importance of motion to the song and visual.
I’ve always felt that music's transformative and restorative power is especially attuned when in transit, moving from one place to another, whether it’s your daily commute, a weekend trip, or moving your life across the country. Often times those moments of transition are when we need music the most, so we are able to receive it in a special way. The patterns resonate on a deeper level. It felt appropriate to put us in that space and try to capture some of that for this song.
I'm curious about the chorus: "Listen to yourself, let go / Ain't nobody else who knows." Where did that sentiment come from? It's interesting how it comes after the line about the person looking for a mantra, and that almost seems like one in itself. Was that intentional?
Yeah. The song kind of offers that sentiment or mantra to its subject who’s stuck in this place of self doubt and inaction. Gently urging them to give themselves permission to trust their gut and take a leap.
An interesting tension in the song is the idea of searching for something from one's past that they chose to leave behind ("Looking for something that feels like back home"). Also, it complicates the question of whether we understand home as a person or a place.
The idea of “home” and whether we understand it as a person or place, as something to seek out or something to return to, is kind of at the heart of “Nobody Else” and is maybe the central theme to all the new material we’ve been working on.
The video is really stunning, how did it come about? Where was it filmed?
It’s directed by our friend Gemma Warren, who has such a nuanced and cinematic eye. She turned a very simple idea into something really gorgeous and intimate. It was shot driving through the Angeles National Forest.
This is your first music since 2019's Simpactico. Obviously a lot has happened in the world since then, but what have you been up to since then?
The pandemic gave us an opportunity to work on some other projects that we’ve been wanting to develop for some time. Exploring those other avenues has enriched and deepened our songwriting as Golden Daze.
Based on your catalogue, it seems like there might be a pattern of putting stuff out every three years. Is there more on the horizon?
You can expect more new music this year for sure.
