One To Watch: Goldheart Assembly

Although only a few months old, London-based sextet Goldheart Assembly’s way with a well-crafted folk-pop melody has been grabbing attention everywhere: Steve Lamacq made them the first unsigned band to play a session on his Radio One show in years, NME gave the group a full-page feature despite them not having any records out and noted pop-cultural authority Radio Scilly dubbed them “the British Fleet Foxes”.

While the latter is not strictly true, the two bands certainly share a certain pastoral quality: indeed, singers Jamie Dale and John Herbert met whilst working as zookeepers at Whipsnade Zoo. Bonding over a shared love of Tom Waits, cheap red wine and The Band’s Last Waltz film, Jamie and John resolved to split their separate bands and join forces. “John was in an experimental, ramshackle band who didn’t have any equipment - very unprofessional, but artistic,” recounts Jamie, “and I was in a very professional, unartistic band.”

Allying their two tendancies, Jamie and Jim recruited the rest of Goldheart (drummer Nicky Francis, keyboardist Jake Bowser and guitarists Dominic.Keshavarz and Tom Hastings), mostly for their ability to sing Beach Boys-style harmonies.

The harmonies may be pristine and the tunes may be massive, but the recording budget certainly isn’t: their myspace demos boast an unmistakably organic ethic: gorgeous home-recorded tracks like ‘So long St Christopher’ might sound like they were laid down in a million-dollar studio but they boast teacup-and-spoon beats.

“The best drum sound we’ve ever had was a door in Derbyshire” says John. Back when they were resolutely cashless, a friend of a friend offered an unused house there. Unfortunately the house had no furniture and even less electricity. “We were terrified every night,” shivers Jamie at the memory.

Odder still is their current recording set-up - in an old steam train museum in Norfolk where they’ve arrayed a range of vintage recording gear in among trains. The fruits of these sessions resulted in the band’s first single, out in March on tiny bedroom indie Heron Recordings. It'll be a limited edition seven inch, followed by a national tour and full album when they sign a proper deal.