‘Silver Linings’ is the first single to be released from The Golden Rail‘s imminent 3rd album ‘Songs from Empty Streets’. Like most of the songs from the album, it was written in preparation for recording in early 2020 and was initially set down as an acoustic duo between lockdowns. The subsequent long break between sessions provided the opportunity to reconsider a full band element, with bass and drums added to the original acoustic guitars and vocals later in the year. The finished version features the full Golden Rail band with additional keys and backing vocals by producer Nick Batterham.

“The perfect marriage of sophisticated melodies and soulful lyrics, performed and sung by an equally soulful voice. The Golden Rail have risen to the top of the perfect pop charts with songs that Jimmy Webb would be proud of.” – Dom  Mariani (The Stems, The Someloves, DM3)

Frontman Ian Freeman describes the song itself as, “Another song about ghosts. Sort of. I was reading a book of letters by Maude Gonne to W. B. Yeats where they mention astral projecting to each other during their dreams. They had a spiritual/dreamworld relationship, which is pretty mad. They could never reconcile that relationship in real life, and it plagued them both for their whole lives. I just ran with that. We were all locked away in our little worlds for a time and I thought how cool it would be if we could astral travel, catch up with family and friends, have a nice cup of tea, then wake up in our beds still in pj’s. But then I thought no one is going to buy that as an idea, so I turned it into a straight unrequited love tune. Everyone can get on board with that, right?”

The Golden Rail edge the mood into the wee small hours with ‘Silver Linings‘, an acoustic plea to see the bright side when times are dark and cloudy.

“The music of The Golden Rail evokes my teenage years like no other band: deserted Perth suburbs in the summer, Boans Morley, the Purple Ear record store; The Golden Rail brings it all back. This is what Joni Mitchell was really talking about with ‘The Hissing of Summer Lawns’. The sense of lost love as Ian Freeman imagines a ship that might bring his love back looking out from Wireless Hill is palpable. Thing is, he’s strictly northern suburbs. The Golden Rail’s music speaks of a kind of loneliness that a boy growing up in the northern suburbs of Perth could know. We had The Triffids to bring us ‘South of the River’ but The Golden Rail speaks to something else equally specific and paradoxically universal. Add to this all the gorgeous melodies and arrangements, and I never really had a chance!” – Kim Salmon (The Scientists, Beasts of Bourbon)

The Golden Rail 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.

By 1995 Ian and Jeff were touring separately with different acts around Australia and overseas and the songwriting was put on hold until the early 2000s when both found themselves settled in Melbourne and looking to pick up where they left off 10 years earlier!

After playing and recording with several other West Australian ex-pats including Dave Johnstone (Ammonia) as The Lazybirds, Ian and Jeff formed The Golden Rail (named after an infamous Perth CBD watering hole). With a couple of line-up manoeuvres, the band settled as a 4-piece, with former Header guitarist Dave Chadwick on bass and Saki Garth on drums. The sound of the band today is a reflection of the longer musical and life experiences of its members, with the flash of those golden Australian indie pop years.

A classic rock/pop combination of guitars, bass and drums with some generous harmonies and occasional keyboard flourishes. It’s a reading of 60s and 70s pop sounds through an indie-rock prism with a subtle Australian bent. Think The Triffids, Died Pretty, Falling Joys or The Apartments.

Photos and video by Craig MacLean