Perhaps it goes without saying that William Fitzsimmons, with his sotto voce vocals and avalanche of facial hair, bears more than a few similarities to fellow folksinger Iron & Wine.
Fitzsimmons never sounds as rustic as his bearded doppelgänger, though, choosing to avoid Iron & Wine’s pastoral lyrics and focus his own songs on personal problems.
On Gold in the Shadow, he makes peace with inner demons over a sympathetic soundtrack of acoustic guitar, percussion, and bubbling keyboard.
The lyrics run the gamut from despondent (“Cut me open, please”) to wearily confident (“Wounded head, you will be fine/Your weary legs will hold you in time), but the music is almost aggressively balanced, with BPMs that rarely stray beyond the midtempo mark and dynamics that are rarely too soft or too loud.
Fitzsimmons keeps things moving at a steady pace, and he strings the songs together with light touches of electronica, from the gauzy synths in “Let You Break” (a duet with Julia Stone) to the programmed stomp-and-clap percussion of “Psychasthenia.” The result is an album that soothes without smoothing over its own emotional content.
[Gold in the Shadow was also released in a double-disc deluxe package, featuring five unreleased tunes and several acoustic tracks that strip the keyboards away from Fitzsimmons’ guitar-and-vocals bedrock.].
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Tide Pulls from the MoonWilliam Fitzsimmons | William Fitzsimmons | Play | 03:39 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | Beautiful GirlWilliam Fitzsimmons | William Fitzsimmons | Play | 02:38 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | The Winter from Her LeavingWilliam Fitzsimmons | William Fitzsimmons | Play | 03:25 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | Fade and Then ReturnWilliam Fitzsimmons | William Fitzsimmons | Play | 04:41 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | PsychastheniaWilliam Fitzsimmons | William Fitzsimmons | Play | 04:14 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | Bird of Winter PreyWilliam Fitzsimmons | William Fitzsimmons | Play | 04:01 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 7 | Wounded HeadWilliam Fitzsimmons | William Fitzsimmons | Play | 02:57 | 6 MB | 0 MB |
| 8 | Tied to MeWilliam Fitzsimmons | William Fitzsimmons | Play | 04:29 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 9 | What HoldWilliam Fitzsimmons | William Fitzsimmons | Play | 04:05 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 10 | Let You Break (feat. Julia Stone) | William Fitzsimmons, Julia Stone | Play | 03:22 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 37 mins | 86 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Josh Bonati | Mastering |
| 2 | Erin Brown | Photography |
| 3 | Jay Clifford | Engineer, Guitar (Acoustic), Horn Arrangements, Mixing, Piano, Producer, String Arrangements, Wurlitzer |
| 4 | Cason Cooley | Vocal Engineer |
| 5 | Laura DiStasi | Vocals |
| 6 | William Fitzsimmons | Additional Production, Composer, Engineer, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Keyboards, Primary Artist, Programming, Vocals |
| 7 | Frances Hsieh | Violin |
| 8 | Nick Jenkins | Percussion |
| 9 | Josh Kaler | Banjo, Banjolin, Bass, Bells, Drums, Effects, Engineer, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Horn Arrangements, Keyboards, Mandolin, Pedal Steel, Percussion, Piano, Producer, Programming, Synthesizer |
| 10 | Luke Kelly | Engineer |
| 11 | Jill King | Viola |
| 12 | Norbert Lewandowski | Cello |
| 13 | Gail Marowitz | Package Design, Photography |
| 14 | Leigh Nash | Featured Artist, Vocals |
| 15 | Brent Price | Violin |
| 16 | Grace Read | Vocals |
| 17 | Eric Rickert | Engineer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |