There's a type of magic where a band figures out how to break genre barriers and write something bold from the ground up. And then there's The DusT in their new cut, "Golden Glo," a mind-blowing fun house of sound and swagger that is simply impossible to resist.
"Golden Glow" is a trip. From the opening track, listeners are drawn into a soundscape that marries the swagger of glam rock, the groove of acid jazz, and the sparkle of pop rock, all dusted with a hint of psychedelia. It's a sumptuous, textured piece of music that sounds like a throwback and nothing we've ever heard. A brassy, strutting guitar lick swaggering like it's just strutted off a '70s vinyl kicks off the track only to give way almost immediately to a funked-out bassline that secures the mood firmly in the groove. But just when you think you've pegged it, The DusT changes lanes with a swirl of jazzy keys, soaring harmonies, and an irresistibly fluid vocal line that ties the whole thing together with a melodic bow.
What "Golden Glow" does more than anything is give notes freedom to do whatever their assigned quartets want them to do, compositionally speaking. DusT didn't come to conform. They came to liquefy it and reshape it in their image. Each stretch of the track is like a new room in a well-crafted house, but it all holds together with a perfect flow. There's no excess here. It's just the right amount of everything.
The singing is engaging, never veiling the luxuriant instrumental cushion. It strikes an easy equilibrium between depth of feeling and showiness as if Bowie were cutting deals with Steely Dan over a Prince groove. Sure enough, like its title, the chorus bursts with heat and force, and it sticks soars, and gleams.