In the land of Lowgold, the song is king. Which seems a convenient rule for a band so prodigiously blessed in the songwriting department.

"Sorry," says Darren Ford, the group's singing guitarist who is responsible for 90% of the band's songs. "We like songs. That's what I'm after from a group, a good song. I am very suspicious of any band whose bark is bigger than their bite. If someone sets out a manifesto you start the stopwatch and it's a race to to find out how quickly they can contradict themselves. Write a good song and then we'll worry about it.
"We're into people who write from the heart, not the head. We have quite a few areas of dissecting taste but at the very centre is Neil Young, Alex Chilton(Big Star), Bill Janovitz (Buffalo Tom), people like that. We're also fans of Norman Blake and Gerry Love's songs with Teenage Fanclub. Bill Callaghan of Smog and Lou Barlow of Sebadoh are other big fav's. Grandaddy, Sparklehorse ....".
Another influence is Elliot Smith.
And so it is the source of some pride and joy that the band's beautiful debut album, 'Just Backward Of Square', should be produced by Tony Lash - member of Smith's former band Heatmiser, producer of the likes of The Dandy Warhols and Quasi, and a legendarily influential figure on the US underground scene.
"We were the first band to pull him out of Portland, plonk him in London and say 'right, be brilliant here too," says Dan. "And he was, because he is. We basically gave Tony Lash a big bag of great songs and he made them into a fantastic album. We owe him a lot. He became our fourth member during the months he was here."
The result is controlled yet explosive: 'Just Backward Of Square' is the first classic, genre-defying debut album to be delivered by a British guitar band for some time. On songs like the slow-burning psychedelia of 'Out Of Reach' and the aching 'Beauty Dies Young', on 'Counterfeit's explosive powerpop and the 'The 108 EP's sole album representation, the sweetly churning and soon-to-be-legendary 'In Amber', Lowgold paint a picture of such powerful soul that this breath-taking melancholia is actually uplifting.
These are sad songs that make you feel good, that empower.

Lowgold are: Darren Ford, Dan Symons, Miles Willey, Simon Scott