It's safe to say that a lot of the CL music team was pumped and present for Generationals' June 2013 appearance at New World Brewery. It was another rare chance to see a breaking indie-pop outfit up close and personal, and while the set, complete with a cover by The Cure, was as sweaty and whimsical as we all expected it to be, it did expose a minor flaw in the New Orleans-based duo's recorded output: sometimes the boys — Ted Joyner and Grant Widmer — don't always capture that live energy on their albums.
Not anymore.
Widmer and Joyner tapped producer Richard Swift (The Shins, Tennis, Gardens & Villa) to helm their new LP Alix (due September 16 via Polyvinyl Records), and our first taste of it —"Gold Silver Diamond"— is a summer mixtape staple that could get you through multiple seasons.
The choruses have that trademark Generationals airy quality, but the beats seem to a bit muscled up and pushed to the front and center of the track amidst high-octave piano stabs and a subtly desperate vibe that might be a result of the weather conditions during the song's genesis.
"The song was written on one of the coldest days of the year in New Orleans. I think the streets were even icing over a little, which rarely happens here," Joyner told Esquire, "[it's] about someone who thinks they’ve been very good at hiding their secrets or hiding who they are, but really they're not. It's a feel-good party track that is about emptiness, despair, and the meaningless futility of life."
The album artwork is above, and you can have a listen to the track below. Pre-order Alixhere.