T. Gold

“I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.” Antonio Gramsci, Prison Letters

On T. Gold’s second album Life is a Wonder and It’s Cruel, longtime creative collaborators Saman Khoujinian and Gabriel Anderson put their politics into practice through song. Through playful electronics and off-kilter folk melodies, they investigate how imagination and radical community love can work against the grind of socioeconomic forces.

Anderson and Khoujinian met in high school in Miami, both moved to Carrboro in 2011, and are now well-known in North Carolina’s independent music scene for their frequent collaborations, such as staging the quadraphonic improvisational synthesizer collective Delver. They are the creative team behind Sleepy Cat Records, a pair who will “show up and do the work” (Blank Tapes) supporting the music of artists as varied as old-time legend Alice Gerrard and the Palestine liberation art-rock project DUNUMS. “Our bond, even to this day, is a little bit unnameable,” says Khoujinian. “We’re two very different people. But there is this connective thread between us, and it weaves throughout our creative projects.”

T. Gold sits comfortably within the label’s curation – a bit of acoustic twang, a little vocoder, and plenty of earnest politics. Bookended by Khoujinian on guitar, synthesizer, and vocals and Anderson on percussion and drums, T. Gold’s 2020 self-titled debut was praised for its “warm, relaxed vein of indie Americana” (INDY Week). Since then, the group has operated in fits and starts, functioning as a comfortable musical landing zone where the pair “continues to figure out how to be in music together,” as Anderson puts it. 

But far from a monogamous musical twosome, T. Gold is an abundant family affair. Making music with a group is “a long, curvy negotiation,” as Anderson says. “It’s messy, and it’s beautiful. And the growth that comes out of trying to be authentic is what we’re interested in.” For this album, the core band of T. Gold – which includes prolific keyboardist and composer Joe MacPhail of SunSp.t and the bass guitarists and producers/engineers Alex Bingham (Magic Al) and Dylan Turner – led recording. They worked out of their living rooms and venue-hopped around studios including Sylvan Esso’s Betty’s and Small Pond Farm, while songwriters Libby Rodenbough and Chessa Rich stopped in to provide backing vocals and a cadre of friends added sounds at a relaxed pace. In this mix of people, Khoujinian’s voice is steady and rich as he narrates songs that feel impossibly intimate. “New Land” tackles his first years at college in a town where he felt unwelcome due to his ethnicity and socioeconomic status. “305 ‘Til I Die” reflects on his teen years in Miami, name-checking the Casualties and Pitbull in a frenzy of ambiguous nostalgia. 

Some songs, like T. Gold’s take on Peggy Seeger’s version of the traditional “Wagoner’s Lad”, were recorded simply, with just Khoujinian and Anderson in a quiet room, listening deeply to each other to inform vocal pauses and microbeats of percussion. Others, like the comparably raucous screed “Assholes Only Take” are a jammy full-band undertaking. The group showcases their interest in layered production on tunes like the keyboard-heavy “Love Is A Dice Roll” and the laidback “Getting to Know the End.” And on “Jewel” Khoujinian narrates the complexity at the heart of the endeavor - how to thrive with chosen family when the world seems against you: “Every week the car dies / And a new bill’s gone to collections,” he sings. “That don’t stop the morning sun from rising / Or the globe’s wild and heavy sighing.”

A Note on the Cover Art for Life is a Wonder and Its Cruel
The praxis of T. Gold’s musical core of Khoujinian and Anderson could be summed up in one anecdote about the cover art for their sophomore release Life is a Wonder and It’s Cruel. The line drawing of a deer family sheltering together is adapted from an artwork by Iranian socialist and martyr Bijan Jazani. The original had ended up in Saman Khoujinian’s household for personal and political reasons, but Khoujinian chose to pass it to Gabriel Anderson for rendering. This move illustrates the intrinsic trust at the core of this group, a passing back and forth, an ongoing creative conversation held by relationship.

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