We are honoured to bring you an exclusive look at the new video from The Golden Rail for their track ‘Hold On Tight’. The Golden Rail have deep within their genetic code a golden thread stretching back to bands in the eighties that have a particular Western Australian glint about them – think of the recent jangle pop of The Rinehearts and the glorious regimes of The Triffids, Scientists, The Hoodoo Gurus and The Stems.
‘Hold On Tight’ jangles and sparkles like a handful of jewels in the sun – a moving feast of shimmering guitars and sweeping strings coasting on indelible melodies and yearning vocals.
The video for song, filmed by Craig MacLean, matches pitch perfect with the melancholy poignancy of the track, shot in and around Melbourne’s iconic Flinders Street Station, the very heart of restless movement filled with grief and loss, joy and reconciliation and the arrivals and departures that make up our lives. The station and the people there become a palimpsest for existence – the ebbs and flows of fortune, the bittersweet tang of life’s brief but sparkling journey. These elements are beautifully expressed in the song:
Time has told us why it’s waiting still
It’s all about the journey, in the end
When I saw you, standing
Small and silent on the platform
Would you wait, by the exit forever
In a green peacoat
With pockets of hope
You know my love could return
The video has a muted, bleached palette, with close, intense shots of the band immersed in their instruments, with lingering, loving shots of Melbourne’s old and stately architecture. A truly engaging and enigmatic visualisation of a stunningly beautiful track:
‘Hold On Tight’ comes off last year’s wonderful ‘Songs From Empty Streets’, out through the iconic Cheersquad Records and Tapes – see below.
You can catch The Golden Rail live in the coming weeks (more details here):
Saturday, 21 January at the Marrickville Bowling Club, as special guests of The Smart Folk’s “The Final Show” – tickets here.
Sunday, 22 January from 4pm @ Gasoline Pony, Marrickville – The Golden Rail + John Kennedy Solo – tickets here.
Thursday, 26 January – Merric Creek w Alyce Platt and Little Faiths Acoustic Duet – tickets here.
Sunday, 5 February – The Gem with Cold Irons Bound FREE
Sunday, 12 February – Perth Lyrics Lane Acoustic Duet FREE
Saturday, 11 March – George Lane
Now based in Melbourne, the band is the culmination of a 30-year writing partnership between principal songwriters Ian Freeman and Jeff Baker. The pair met and started performing in Perth in the mid-80’s running through a string of bands either together or as side players in The Palisades, The Rainyard, Header, Summer Suns, DM3, The Lazybirds and more recently with The Jangle Band.
Feature Photograph: Craig MacLean
