Golden Apples | photo by Luke Ivanovich | courtesy of the artist
Golden Apples wants you to design a one-of-a-kind cover to their new album
The Art Party for the Philly indie band’s new album ‘Shooting Star’ will benefit Beyond The Bars.
“Do-it-yourself” is often the term we use for the independent ethos that drives so many of the great musicians here in Philly. But in most cases, it would be more accurate to call it “do-it-ourselves.” This is something of which Russell Edling, frontman for Philly indie-rockers Golden Apples, is keenly aware. Community and collaboration are at the center of everything Edling does both in and outside of his band, and that is no more true than on Golden Apples’ latest record, Shooting Star (out 9/19 via Lame-O Records).
Which is how the idea for Saturday’s official Shooting Star art night came into focus; a way to not only celebrate the band’s latest record, but the very community that helped bring it into the world. The event, takes place at Freehand Art Supply, an independent shop Edling co-founded, and it gives fans a chance to make “one-of-a-kind album artwork,” taking a blank LP sleeve from the studio and bringing their very own vision for Shooting Star to life. The records will then be distributed to five local record stores where they will be sold to Philly indie-rock heads all over the city, filling shelves and spinning for years to come. “I really wanted to try to make this as collaborative as possible,” says Edling. “I’m excited for the spontaneity of it and just the freeform nature. I’m kind of curious to see what people will gravitate toward.”
Edling is quick to downplay this event as a direct celebration of the record, and instead a way to promote the spirit of collaboration he sees as the reason for Shooting Star’s existence in the first place. Honestly though, it is a wonderful way to commemorate what is perhaps Golden Apples’ best work to date. The band’s fifth record, Shooting Star embraces a level of free-spirited song-craft that wrangles the best elements of their discography – fuzzed-out pop, earwormy psychedelia, jangly college rock – while remaining unambiguously singular. “The record is very collaborative, and I thought that this would be just another fun way to kind of continue that spirit,” says Edling.
Originally the brainchild of Lame-O Records’ head Eric Osman, Lame-O has pledged to give $20 from every record toward Beyond The Bars, a student-driven and community based music and resource connection that we here at XPN believe in quite a bit. “I feel really grateful for the community here and just wanted to kind of keep it going and give back to it in any way that we can,” says Edling.
Be sure to highlight your long weekend by stopping by Freehand Art Supply, located at 308 E Girard Ave in Fishtown, any time from 7 to 10 p.m. this Saturday. More information can be found here.