Introducing Boy Golden, your new favourite country outlier
The Winnipeg musician went from pop-rocker to the guitar-slinging minister of a church
"If you can imagine the worst-case scenario then you can also imagine the best-case scenario because they're both just imaginings."
Liam Duncan can't remember who passed on this piece of wisdom to him — perhaps his therapist, he thinks — but it perfectly captures his wide-eyed optimism, something that runs through his blues- and country-tinged music as Boy Golden so much that I just had to ask where it all came from. "It's easier to be optimistic than pessimistic," the Winnipeg songwriter tells me. "I always think that things will end up working out."
It's a sunny disposition that hasn't yet led Duncan astray as Boy Golden, an alter ego of sorts that he debuted this year after some time off from performing his own music. Duncan is best known by some as a member of the pop-rock trio the Middle Coast, but when the band broke up in 2019 he went solo, releasing an album under his own name inspired by the devastating end of a relationship. "I don't connect to that album as much as I did at the time when I was making it," he says now, "probably because the feelings were so big."
Those oversized, oftentimes sombre and heartbroken emotions took a lot out of Duncan, and after seeing that project not take off the way he wanted it to, he took his exhaustion as a sign to hit pause. Instead, he took time to work with other artists, touring and mixing records because focusing on his own art felt too stressful.
It was during this time, when his attention was spent on other artists' music, that the idea of Boy Golden started emerging. "I was doing a lot better mentally and I was taking care of myself more, creatively and spiritually," he explains. "And then, out of that, came these songs that felt a lot more like me. They were more fun and lighthearted."
That easygoing, breezy attitude, it turns out, was what was missing all along in his solo work. Boy Golden, he says, brings together "all my favourite parts of myself, without the human insecurities." This change in perspective is fuelled by the advice he told me earlier. "I find that the bigger you zoom out of an issue, the easier it is to feel some sort of joy around it," he expands. If you can look deeply into something dark, you, too, are capable of the opposite: looking outward at the beauty that surrounds the darkness.
Better daze ahead
About six months after he began writing songs as Boy Golden, another important piece arrived: the Church of Better Daze. The Church of Better Daze is a real institution Duncan founded, complete with a website where you can fill out a form to join the congregation. But it also doubles as the title of Boy Golden's debut album. The initial inspiration behind the track "Church of Better Daze" came from a conversation he once had with a gospel band at a music festival. From there, "a lot of things clicked into place," according to Duncan. The track, a manifesto of community, feel-good vibes and promoting a healthy, creative life, sparked the creation of a literal house of worship, although Duncan serves less as a cult leader, and more like a bubbly camp counsellor.
"One of the main things I want to do is share some of the creative practices that have made my life so much better," Duncan clarifies. "Whether that's a perspective shift on what it means to be an artist, or some daily practices like morning pages or journalling or meditation.... My goal is just to make everyone feel comfortable and safe, and just have lots of fun."
That message is woven into almost every track on Church of Better Daze, from the laidback album opener "KD and Lunch Meat," where Duncan sings of quitting his job and doing something just for yourself, to the twangy "I Wanna Know," where he straight-up confesses to his subject: "I wanna help you with the groceries and your mental health." Musically, Duncan was most heavily inspired by the blues-inflected style of J.J. Cale — even down to his use of a drum machine as the rhythm section — but his general love of old country, blues and rock 'n' roll permeates everything from the jam band-style instrumentation to Duncan's vocal delivery. (The album was mixed by Joel Plaskett for two reasons: because Duncan says he was too close to his own work to mix the album, and he liked the Halifax artist's "retro and analog sound." Since the entire process was done virtually, the two have yet to meet in person.)
Another unavoidable constant in Duncan's music is his love of marijuana. While the ubiquity of weed in his music was unintentional, smoking is an integral part of Duncan's daily life and songwriting process. "It just helps me get lost," he says, "and then all of a sudden three hours go by and I get a bunch of stuff done, that feels great." But, unlike the rest of Boy Golden's philosophy, Duncan understands weed is not a cure-all he can just prescribe to everyone. (Country music is often associated with drinking, something that Duncan admits he doesn't do a lot of.) And, if anything, he hopes his openness about weed in his music and life can continue to help reduce the stigma around it, adding, "I would like to see nobody going to jail for it because I don't think that's necessary."
On the title track Duncan sings, "We are all saved at the Church of Better Daze." It's a line that illustrates his mission of spreading positivity and uplifting his listeners, but Duncan admits that the creation of the church, and his entire moniker, has changed his life, too, merging his two personas together into what Duncan sees as a path toward the best version of himself.
"I think it has helped bring me so much closer to the person that I wanted to be," he explains. "It's just freed me up so much and now I'm just so much more excited about going about my creative life because I have this awesome outlet that makes me feel so free. I feel like I can put out anything, whatever music I want to make."
As Duncan continues to write more Boy Golden songs, he describes his upcoming output as "feeling more like me, somehow" compared to his older releases. The world may never see music released by Liam Duncan again, but the style and attitude of Boy Golden is pure Duncan — the solo project he was actually meant to make.