Owen Tromans

Owen Tromans

Released today is a new album from Owen Tromans (San Lorenzo) called Golden Margins, on Sacred Geometry Records. In the past, he has supported Idlewild, Best Coast and Plush, and he’s been on collections with Mercury Rev and Devendra Banhart. For this new recording, he’s back with his band The Elders.

The music is beautiful and haunting with the sound steeped in the best of British chamber folk and 60s alt-country traditions. If there’s a radio single in this collection, it would have to be “Golden Margins,” which is more upbeat, punchy and lighthearted. And it’s got horns. But for a better idea of what the overall album sounds like, check out the gorgeous Americana melancholy of “Saltwater Curse” or the homey Byrds-esque backporch vibe of “White Candle Road.”


The album was recorded in the middle of winter in Hampshire, England with producer Dan Parkinson. Subject matter varies between the nostalgia of the autobiographical title track and the 17th century witch trials in England (“John’s on the Bridge”, “1682”). Light and dark, like the changing of the seasons. The instrumentation is colorful and varied, providing a rich palette of sounds and textures. There’s acoustic finger-picked guitar, horns, pedal steel, double bass, violin, piano, organ and accordion, and the band is joined by multi-instrumentalist Joe Bennett (The Dreaming Spires, Goldrush). “I Saw Him,” which closes the album, is a soft-spoken stunner.

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