Andrew Golding, the founding member of C86 pioneers The Wolfhounds, has announced his debut solo album under the moniker (a.k.a. anagram), Dragon Welding. Ahead of this mid-March via A Turntable Friend Records, he presented the lead track The Builders. “Dragon Welding” is Golding’s first solo album and a remarkable effort, covering different genres, including alternative pop rock and indie-folk. As a guitarist, writer and multi-instrumentalist, Golding has been a part of The Wolfhounds since 1984 and has written, played and sung on every album by The Wolfhounds. The Builders is an epic six-minute hypnotic journey à la Moonshake. It is about the gentrification of our cities. Andrew himself also animated the accompanying video for this song.
Dragon Welding certainly comes as a surprise to many people who have never heard of him and perhaps not so much of a surprise for Andrew Golding’s inner circle. Fans of cult band The Wolfhounds will know how talented this artist is if they’ve been following the band since they got their start decades ago. In any case, Dragon Welding is a valuable addition to any record collection. Musically, Dragon Welding features a rich blend of influences, the most obvious being The Wolfhounds and Moonshake, with nods to Neu! and Stereolab drone, particularly on The Builders. Other tracks like The Dumb or the driving These Are Dangerous Times offer an eclectic mix of acoustic guitars and analog synths, reminiscent of German cult band The Notwist.
The Dragon Welding LP was largely written, recorded, mixed and edited on mobile devices whilst commuting between Essex, Hammersmith, and Los Angeles. Final mastering was supervised by Ant Chapman (Collapsed Lung and Arndales). This debut LP features contributions from Alice Golding (The Othyrs and The Wolfhounds backing vocals) and son James Golding, while the album’s cover artwork was conceived and painted by his wife Helen. We like it because of its deep originality – somewhere brilliantly exploding between Foals’ earliest material and The La’s, but with a vocal timbre similar to The Cure’s Robert Smith. As of March 15, this album will be available everywhere digitally via A Turntable Friend Records with distribution worldwide by SRD (London, UK). The download comes with a digital booklet including lyrics and it will also be issued as a limited-edition 11-track CD in the gatefold.
Keep Up With Dragon Welding/ The Wolfhounds
