It’s been just under a year since Russell Edling dropped his debut album as Golden Apples, and it seems that over this brief period of time the Philadelphia-based songwriter’s bedroom-set lo-fi compositions have blossomed into a full-band affair. “High School,” the first taste of Golden Apples’ newly revealed self-titled second full-length, sees the outfit expanded into a five-piece with the hazy, nostalgic sounds of Shadowland clinging to a handful of specific subgenres popular in the late-’80s and early-’90s like jangle pop, grunge, and dream pop. Which feels apt when you consider the track’s lyrical content.
“Adolescence is a surreal hybrid condition; one day you're playing Babe Ruth league baseball and the next you’re driving your parents’ car too fast down country roads,” Edling shares. “There was a moment in my youth when I noticed I had become very sensitive to time passing. It felt like a loss, watching people and scenery disappear in a peripheral blur. I tried to reanimate that moment with this song because it felt formative and I believe it marked the beginning of my experience with hypersensitivity and existential dread.”
Hear the track below, and pre-order Golden Apples here.
