“Dream of Venus” from Golden Gardens on Vimeo
We’ll readily cop to nursing a major band crush on goth-romantic duo Golden Gardens in these virtual pages for several years now, so The SunBreak is especially proud to premiere “Dream of Venus,” the band’s newest video.
“Dream of Venus” is one of the indisputable highlights of Reign, GG’s new full-length, and that’s saying a lot, as the whole record’s pretty damned wonderful to begin with. The duality in the band’s sound is in full swing here, with Gregg Neville’s wall of guitars, keyboards, and synthesized percussion deftly intertwining dark atmospherics with ravishing beauty throughout.
That yin-yang pull extends to singer Aubrey Bramble’s haunting lyrics. Unabashedly romantic Venus-rising imagery contrasts uneasily with stark reality, and Bramble’s voice—the sound of an ethereal spirit facing the discomfiting realities of love’s sometimes-dark corners—provides the exquisite tension that makes this gorgeous track so compelling.
Add in director Andrew Sobey’s broodingly beautiful footage of a rain-spattered Northwest coast and a surreal interlude in Vito’s Cougar Room, and you’ve got a magical little pocket universe ready for the taking. Listen, watch, and be captivated.
