The Tarnished Gold

some albums were made to be played on a saturday night. 'the tarnished gold' was meant to be played on a sunday afternoon. listening to beachwood sparks' first album in 11 years is like being under cobalt blue skies and smelling the night-blooming jasmine on a perfect spring day in los angeles. 'the tarnished gold' is the work of the classic beachwood sparks lineup: singer / guitarist chris gunst, singer / bassist brent rademaker, singer / multi-instrumentalist farmer dave scher, and drummer aaron sperske, with invaluable support from guitarist and longtime friend ben knight (the tyde). for the sessions, the band added guitarists knight and neal casal (solo artist and former member of ryan adams and the cardinals), dan horne on pedal steel, gunst's wife jen cohen, sparks' very first drummer jimi hey, brent's brother darren (leader of the tyde) and la indie-rock maestro ariel pink. 'once we were trees' producer thom monahan returned to his familiar spot behind the console. the album finds the band, chemistry as strong as ever, pushing themselves to make a truly memorable record. it recaptures la's laidback but vibrant heyday back in the late '60s and early '70s.