The Golden Filter Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 6th 2010 8:54AM by David A. Cobb
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New York City-based electro-popsters the Golden Filter have been darlings of the indie blog world since their appearance at last year's SXSW, and the group's singles, 'Solid Gold' and 'Thunderbird,' continue to draw fans. The band's new album, 'Voluspa,' hits stores this April. Spinner spoke with singer Penelope Trappes and synth programmer Stephen Hindman about the band's beginning, its influences, a single-day rainbow record and the band's expectations for SXSW 2010.

Describe your sound.

Mystery, romance, wilderness and electricity.

How did your band form?

We formed across a city street as neighbors.

What are your musical influences?

The sounds of traveling to new places.

How do these play into the music you make?

Capturing experiences in equal states of emergency and tranquility.

How did you come up with your band name?

Everything can be seen in a dark side and in a light side, depending on preconception. Looking through a golden filter, as cameras can do, can be magic.

How has digital technology changed the way you create your music?

It hasn't. We were conceived in the digital technology age, no matter how much we attempted to resist it.

What are you most looking forward to at this year's SXSW?

Sunshine, trees and seeing our friends from around the world.

Who is your favorite musician from the '70s? '80s? '90s?

David Bowie.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

Opera.

Beatles or Stones?

Rolling Stones.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

Seven rainbows in one day in Iceland.