Goon are an indie rock band from LA, led by Kenny Becker. Beginning back in 2015 as Becker’s solo project, the band has had something of a tumultuous life, releasing an album and several EPs to acclaim which caught the attention of Partisan Records, before pretty much disintegrating. But that wasn’t the end. Becker enlisted a completely new band—Andy Polito (drums), Dillon Peralta (guitar), and Tamara Simons (bass)—and in late 2020 they set out with the intent of recording a new LP.
But again things didn’t quite run smoothly. The pandemic made the conventional recording process difficult, and the constant hiccups and agonizing over small details began to weigh on the songs. “We just decided, well fuck it,” Becker describes, “let’s just put out an EP of brand-new stuff ourselves.” Recorded at home and in the band’s practice space, the result is Paint by Numbers, Vol. 1, the first of two EPs which exist in pure rejection of the usual recording studio process, instead capturing the energy and immediacy of creativity unfolding in real time.
The songs were inspired by the act of being outdoors. A major theme is the sense of perspective you can achieve by appreciating nature in all its busy diversity, but there is acknowledgement too of the sometimes uneasy relationship between the natural and the man-made, especially in a large metropolitan area like LA. This is captured by lead single ‘Garden Of Our Neighbor’, which pairs synthesizers and acoustic guitar with ambient birdsong and seashore sounds.
“I wrote and recorded this song entirely in one night,” Becker explains of the hasty recording process. “I met up with our drummer, Andy at our rehearsal spot that day, recorded him drumming along to a simple midi chord progression, had the chords on a loop, and record him drumming into the Tascam 5 minutes at a time.” The result is palpable immediacy which situates Becker’s vocals within an much larger, quasi-organic environment.
somewhere in the ocean
far under the seas
one wing on another
and anchored to me
is a howling wind, smiling
underneath
down, down deep
[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2041721954 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=2372530395]
Check out the video directed and edited by Becker himself, with cinematography by Josh Drew:
Paint by Numbers, Vol. 1 is out on the 25th February and you can pre-order it from the Goon Bandcamp page.
