A stirring folk track with shades of Arthur Russell and Neil Young, “Iowa City” is a stellar track from Gold Connections. Twangy guitars and yearning vocals — “I wanna dream of you,” — emerge just prior to the one-minute mark. This vibrant showing is punctuated by a “it’s just the way it goes,” hook, capped by a swooning harmonica. The entire progression is a gorgeous one that firmly captivates. “Iowa City” is a moving, enjoyably paced track — marking the first self-release from the project out of Charlottesville, Virginia.
“It’s my highway song,” frontman Will Marsh says. “I think it explores that liminal space between hope and dread, far-gone and yet still here, which emerges in the twilight of any kind of relationship. The American landscape, literally, becomes a place where that tension plays out.”
Marsh continues: “This was the first song I recorded in quarantine, so much of the feeling came from the sudden end of touring. Along with interpersonal loss, it became a break-up song about the open road itself. The melancholy of an obliterated past.”
Also: “Gold Connections will be donating all June bandcamp sales to the National Bail Fund Network “in solidarity with everyone fighting on the front lines for racial and economic justice in America.” Link to the bail fund directory can be found here.”
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“Iowa City” and other memorable tracks from this month can also be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Best of June 2020’ Spotify playlist.
The track is also featured in the genre-based, best-of Spotify compilation Emerging Indie Folk.
