A Flower In Your Head

iTunes Review

Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist John Gold writes lush, literate, and melodically rich songs that easily worm their way into your mind. The tunes on A Flower In Your Head, his third release, are dense and meticulously assembled yet so well tailored it’s tough to see the seams. Songs like “Honeymade” and “We Get High” begin simply enough — a strummed guitar or a basic piano pattern — and then layers of sounds and textures are added until the finished product is quite a different creation. Acoustic guitar, drum machines, horns, keyboards, and strings are among the building blocks of the songs, material that Gold uses to insert a catchy hook here, a power-pop chorus there, and then a coating of subtle psychedelia for color. Certain tracks stand out from the rest, namely “Skyscraper,” “Baby It’s Your Life,” and “The Loop,” but there are no poor efforts here. This is sunny indie-pop with substance.