Golding are a multi-instrumentalist, electronic duo comprised of singer-songwriter Jay Bainbridge and well-known industry producer Matt Bartlem, based on the Gold Coast, Australia-via-Los Angeles. Their sophomore release “Alone. Together.” has reached over 1.9 million streams on Spotify alone, receiving adds to editorial playlists, airplay on Australian tastemaker radio station triple j and a remix by synth-wizard Touch Sensitive. Their most recent release, “Don’t Waste Your Love” (with Boo Seeka), has already amassed almost 1 million streams on Spotify and received placement on multiple editorial playlists.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Golding about the latest music, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
We are from the Gold Coast, Queensland in Australia. Our music is smooth, catchy (hopefully) and fun. We just want to make music that people want to crank at a house party, or on the way to a festival! We actually sometimes test our tracks at friends parties to see how people react.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
Friendship. As cheesy as that sounds it’s true, our friendship started this project and it’s what will always keep it going.
How is “Boxing Underwater” different from previous releases? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
Boxing Underwater came from a writing session we did with our good friend Jarryd James. I don’t think we ever set out with a goal when we write music, it’s more like we just let the music happen or come to us in a way. On that day Boxing Underwater came together.
What was the last song you listened to?
(Jay) Pawpaw Rod “Hit Em Where It Hurts”. You feel 20% cooler doing anything in life with that track on. (Matt) I was just listening to Childish Gambino’s version of Stay High (originally by Brittany Howard) How he’s re-imagined that track is genius.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s? Vinyl or MP3.
(Jay) Vinyl at home and MP3s in the car. (Matt) Personally, .Wav is the way to go for me. 🙂
Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Nah, we appreciate all of these services. As long as people are listening we are happy!
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
Instagram for the moment. We have all the others but we are most active on Instagram currently.
Anything else before we sign off?
Yeah! A big shoutout to Cailin for helping us realize our vision for this track with her amazing voice / talent. She’s also been absolutely amazing to work with, and hopefully we can do more with her in the future. Just wanted to thank you guys and anyone who has taken the time to checkout our music. With the amount of music being released these days it’s always a honor to have people take interest and listen.