Rising Portland singer-songwriter Michael James learns how you have to leave home to have a comeback on his band Goldish’s latest EP, Reverie
The sound of self-discovery was, in part, a slide guitar casting a warm melodic beam over the chorus of one of his new songs, and for Michael James, it’s a recorded reminder of the type of bandleader the emerging frontman intends to become.
The 29-year-old, Portland-based singer-songwriter fronts the introspective indie rock outfit Goldish. The moment occurred when he and his bandmates (guitarist Robert Gaar, bassist Jake Murphy and drummer Garrit Tillman) were huddled in the Southern California recording studio Pique Recording last winter to record Goldish’s second release, the EP Reverie, out June 5 on Bandcamp.
James is a multi-instrumentalist and journeyman musician who’s played a supportive role in bands throughout his decade-plus career. He’s been the lanky sideman, nearly the same height as his upright bass, visibly having the most fun playing music on stage with past folk ensembles Small Joys or while backing the songstress Caitlin Jemma.
When Goldish debuted on New Year’s Day 2020 with the release of the album Get Well Soon Town, it was also the debut of James as a bandleader. Prior to gathering his Goldish bandmates together, James was on a 6-week tour through Europe supporting Portlander Erisy Watt on electric bass.
“I remembered what it was like being a side man,” he says. “I realized I had taken my own band for granted. I wasn’t mistreating them but I needed them to have more of a say.”
Upon returning to the Reverie recording session, James opened the floor to his bandmates and solicited suggestions. This was how the slide guitar with added bell harmonics appeared on the tender ballad “No More Crying Over Love.”
“All the things that make that track great happened on that day,” James says. “Now the EP is closer to how I wanted it to sound and it connects me to the kind of leader I want to be: I need to give them the space to take the songs in directions I wouldn’t have thought of. I’m learning that trust is hard but so essential.”
Reverie took about a month to record but years to assemble. “Icarus,” a riff-rock opener, details the pain James endures through his fibromyalgia, a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain he’s had since college. Record closer “Prague” has its roots in 2015 when James lived in an attic in Northeast Portland for $200 a month and (accurately) prophesied the outcome of a former romance.
“Saturday Song” leads as the EP’s single, a mid-tempo probe into James’s relationships as he consistently tours, that was built around a warmly strummed nylon-string guitar. Before returning to Portland in early 2020, James spent the last few years in his native Southern California where he worked as a music teacher (in fact, he borrowed the nylon-string guitar used on “Saturday Song” from The Westminster Arts Academy, the school where he was instructing). He would save up money a few months at a time to rent studio hours to develop his songs, which he now has stockpiled and is delicately mapping out his forthcoming releases.
Now living in Southeast Portland near Mt. Tabor, James is grateful to be among likeminded musicians and is eager to reassemble himself within the music community — this time as a bandleader with confidence and a vision.
“I couldn’t find a community making original music in Huntington Beach. It was wine bars and cover bands,” he says with a warm, boisterous laugh.
“I wanted a place where there was a lot of creative music going on. When I first moved to Portland after college, I didn’t know anyone, but in the time since I left, all my friends have become amazing artists or successful audio engineers. Portland musicians know how to support each other. I’m feeling very grateful.”
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