Love Letter To A Record: Luke Carlino On Dawn Golden’s ‘Still Life’

Many of us can link a certain album to pivotal moments in our lives. Whether it’s the first record you bought with your own money, the chord you first learnt to play on guitar, the song that soundtracked your first kiss, the album that got you those awkward and painful pubescent years or the one that set off light bulbs in your brain and inspired you to take a big leap of faith into the unknown – music is often the catalyst for change in our lives and can even help shape who we become.

In this series, Music Feeds asks artists to reflect on their relationship with music and share with us stories about the effect music has had on their lives.

Here are their love letters to records that forever changed their lives.

Luke Carlino – Dawn Golden’s Still Life

Dear Still Life,

I wanted to write to you to thank you for being a record that offered significant assistance to me. From a lyrical and emotional point, sure, but we’ll get to that later.

I first heard of your creator, Dawn Golden, in a Ryan Hemsworth song called ‘Snow in Newark.’ It’s a beautiful song, and Dawn’s vocals and melodies are the standout of the whole thing. I later discovered Dawn had music of his own when I heard one of your tracks, ‘All I Want’ in a TV show, Suits I believe. That led to my discovery of you, and oh what a discovery it was.

You came into my life at a point where I was trying to figure out how to make my music a blend of singer-songwriter, solo artist and modern electronica with enough acoustic elements to keep it all real and organic. And there you were, like a freaking roadmap on how to do precisely that. Your songs are minimalistic, sad and beautiful, heavily melodic and incredibly catchy. Everything that I wanted for my music.

I feel that you are possibly underrated, maybe even a little too unknown? It’s one of the reasons I decided to write this letter. Hopefully, a couple more people look into you and discover your beauty for themselves.

Lyrically, you are everything a post-emo, heartbroken boy who loves sad shit for some reason could want. You have enough angst against those who have wronged you mixed with the admiration that brought them into your life in the first place. You are respectful and protective all in one haunting melody.

My favourite bit about you is your final track, ‘Brief Encounter’. I wish I wrote that song. It is the perfect summation of everything mentioned above. It so incredibly sad, but even more beautiful and I listen to it more than someone should probably listen to a single song.

So thank you, ‘Still Life,’ for not only being an excellent record but providing me with comfort and direction in the warmth of my headphones. I genuinely hope that your owner, Dawn Golden, decides to make another album someday, as a talent like that shouldn’t go to waste, even though you are a fantastic body of work for one career all by yourself.

Much love,

Luke Carlino

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Luke Carlino is a Melbourne (via Adelaide) songwriter whose new single ‘Minute feat. Daydream Fever’ is out now. Catch him touring it live at selected Aussie dates this July (below).