“We can do this all night,” GGOLLDD’s Margaret Butler sings over the coy house synths that open her band’s latest EP, and given the context, you can be forgiven for mistaking what she’s singing about. GGOOLLDD’s songs are never just about fucking, though. On the new For The Night EP, as on their superlative debut $TANDARD$, Butler and her bandmates use the language of dance to speak to matters of the heart, disguising longing and regret behind sex and glamour. It’s body music for people who can’t escape their own heads. “Baby, you got nothing that I need, but I think I miss you when you leave,” Butler sings. In GGOOLLDD’s world, connections come easy—satisfying ones less so.
For The Night underscores how this group became one of the city’s hottest commodities so quickly. For all the Milwaukee music scene’s strengths, showmanship has never been one of them. Chalk it up to Midwestern modesty, perhaps, but our best bands barely sell themselves. GGOOLLDD, however, were born with a little L.A. in them, and they don’t apologize for that mass appeal. These are songs that demand to be played on dance floors. These songs want to sell cars. From a band with shallower songwriting, they’d almost sound cynical, but Butler brings humanity to them. Even the frilliest songs hint at very real pain.
On the sing-along climax of “City Lights,” the band shares a suggested pronunciation of their band name: “All this shit / turns to GOOOOOOO-OOOOOOO-OOOOLLLLLDDDDDDD.” And yes, you can hear the capital letters. It’s another big moment from a band that doesn’t shy from big moments, but more so than their other ones it speaks directly to the mindset behind their shiny but bittersweet songs: When life hands you shit, turn it into gold.
GGOOLLDD’s For The Night EP is out now on Gloss Records. Stream it below. The band plays Turner Hall Ballroom with Canopies and Rio Turbo on Saturday, Jan 9. Tickets go on sale today at noon.
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