The Golden Hour band plays in Vienna.
One musical show of “The Golden Hours,” started with an experiment to blindfold some of the guests and have them listen to the band without any visuals, so it brought on some reactions that seem like they come from a lab report.
It was fun, adventurous and a new way to set themselves apart from other groups.
“It gets people to listen in a different way,” said musician David Wax, who plays guitar as well as a few other instruments. “You kind of don’t know what’s going to happen,” he added.
Kallao, one of the NPR radio hosts, tried it as well and described it as a feeling of anticipation, surprise and joy. “It was like being reminded of why I fell in love with music in the first place,” he said.
People heard about it and wanted to try it with The Golden Hours. “All of a sudden, it became a thing, people loved it,” said Wax.
It was a “Dark Dining Experience,” that Daniel Groans and Laura Groans organized that brought on the blindfold. Dark Dining is a nationwide activity where people are blindfolded at the dinner table and “enjoy delectable surprise dishes and feast on a curated 3-course meal without using your sight, thereby enhancing your other senses,” it said on the Dark Dining website.
It was just one angle the Charlottesville, Va. based indie-folk group brings to the stage. The band was formed by Suz Slezak and David Wax of the David Wax Museum and Lauren and Daniel Goans of Lowland Hum. The band’s debut album “Terra Nova,” is coming out this year, and they describe it as “simultaneously lush and distilled, emotionally probing, and conceptually expansive.” Huh? Maybe blindfolded is the way to hear it.
Their tour this year includes stops in Harrisonburg, Richmond, Pennsylvania and New York, as well as Jammin’ Java in Vienna on April 14. Jammin’ Java has traditionally been their go-to spot in Northern Virginia.