Golden Dawn Arkestra Share New Single 'Join As One'
Their album will be released on August 12.
By: Michael Major Aug. 04, 2022
On August 12, Austin-based band Golden Dawn Arkestra will release their highly anticipated release The Gold Album on August 12 digitally and on limited 180 gram edition vinyl (pre-order).
Today the band is pleased to present the official video for their new single "Join As One." The video, which was directed by Benjamin Blanchard, debuted today at Glide Magazine and can also be shared at YouTube. "Join As One" is the third release in a trilogy of videos off Golden Dawn's upcoming album and was shot at Paramount Theater & The Texas Capitol Building.
Director Benjamin Blanchard on the video:
"Join As One"'s anthemic lyrics call us to "crush the darkness" and "join as one." So what better place to illustrate the theme of coming together and bringing the light than a cinema? Especially historic theatres like the beautiful Paramount Theatre in Austin which had "gone dark" during the pandemic. The "film" the family attends the premiere for is actually another music video we made together back in 2018. The whole video is something of a love note to cinema.
In the previous video of the trilogy, we see a spiritual revolution emerge which by this finale has turned into a political revolution. We wanted to present an ecstatic and victorious reclamation of this temple of light. As "Join As One"'s lyrics infer, "love and joy are the weapon," so we wanted to replace the images of violent insurgence that have been present in the zeitgeist with more jubilant and harmonious ones.
Our hero begins the trilogy in "Phenomenal" longing for connection in the midst of the pandemic. There are only four people in the whole video and he is seen isolated from even those few. By "Join As One," there are literally ten times the amount of cast and we see he has successfully surrounded himself with a loving community.
On the song and video Golden Dawn Arkestra's Topaz (Zapot) McGarrigle adds:
The message of "Join as One" was inspired by the BLM protests of 2020 and even more specifically the Wide Awakes movement. The main message is represented by the first line "Love and joy are the weapon." The Wide Awakes are all about promoting protest and change through expressions of joy, art, music and dance.
Musically the groove started with the baseline and was the first song I used synth bass on which kind of dictated a big musical shift in sound on this album. The Moog bass is super prevalent on multiple songs. The general groove of the song is strongly influenced by the African disco I was digging into at the time.
The Gold Album will be released in partnership with Spaceflight Records, Eye in the Sky and Terrorbird Media. The upcoming album follows the band's acclaimed full-length Darkness Falls On The Edge Of Time and pre-release, fan favorite singles "Phenomenal," "Success," and "Golden Limousine" which are available now on all streaming services for any playlist shares.
Golden Dawn Arkestra have also anounced a free record release show in Austin at Stubb's on August 12 and the band will be performing on August 19 at Psycho Las Vegas. Additional tour dates and festival appearances will be announced in the coming weeks.
On a mission from Ra to spread love, light and tolerance, Golden Dawn Arkestra come in peace. After years living amongst humankind, the band of interstellar sound controllers have channeled their vibrations into songs celebrating and criticizing humanity, its beauty and insanity.
Tuned equally to the cosmos as their inner starchild, Golden Dawn Arkestra continues to evolve their sound from roots in afrobeat, world funk and psych punk to fusing adolescent charged discotheque and indulgent nu-wave soundscapes. Well-traveled across several European / South American tours, an eternal search for hot springs and psychonautical journeys, bandleader Topaz "Zapot" McGarrigle, has absorbed countless cultures, genres and philosophies as a constant student of the infinite continuum.
Using the year 2020 pause to take a new approach to songcraft, Topaz collaborated with producer Walker Lukens in various studios to build songs and bring together band members and guest musicians - all contributing to the 80's electro, funky disco record that was taking shape. Flexing their shared appreciation for the deep cuts and wide world of funk, Lukens and Topaz shaped a sonic sojourn, voyaging from ambient spoken word introludes to nightclub ready bangers and bops.
The Gold Album came together in a time of change, from COVID shifts, to band personnel transitions and the death of a close loved one. The result is a dynamic auditory journey - peaks and valleys, a good and bad trip, which has been so aptly complemented with visuals from director Ben Blanchard.
The singles "Phenomenal," "I Deserve Success" and "Join As One" delves the audience further into the cult aesthetic the band has fostered, while modernizing it through phases of infomercial teleschemes, personal and financial motivational speeches and Illuminati allusions. Coalescing all these aesthetics.
Followers of the arkestra know the theatrical experience - adorned instrumentalists blend with dancers shimmering, together in garments reminiscent of the intergalactic kingdoms of yore. Topaz, ever the conductor beckons "Delight in the ritual. Bear witness to your higher self. Bask joyously in the eternal light that joins us all as one."
Watch the new music video here:
Golden Dawn Arkestra Tour Dates
August 12 - Austin, TX @ Stubb's (Record Release Show)
August 19 - Las Vegas, NV @ Psycho Las Vegas
Comments
Videos