Radnor & Lee - Golden State (2020)

Radnor & Lee found they had to get more serious with their new album, Golden State. While their previous release in 2017 was more of a passion project, their southern hemisphere success (especially Brazil and Argentina) has led to a more serious attitude. Of course, you have to give a certain amount of respect to anyone who can write a musical called B Is For Beer. Ben Lee gets a lot of props for that, not to mention recording 11 solo albums. For Josh Radnor scratching the creative itch has gone in a number of directions, including acting, directing and music.

As a duo, they’ve realized the greatest self-assurance you can have is in knowing what you don’t know. Playing off the rhythm of an acoustic guitar and a banjo, Simply Harmony is all about understanding that answers aren’t always forthcoming. The best we can do sometimes is to keep on going, “Everybody take a breath/This old earth depends on birth/As much as it depends on death.” Sometimes it’s less important to know where you’re going and just enjoy the ride.

These songs reflect on the past, both lyrically and musically, yet both are also informed by being of a certain age at a certain time in history. Lee makes that clear, “I can’t picture any of these songs written by people in their 20s. They’re the product of hard-learned lessons.” As Outside In makes clear, how you see depends on where you look, “Do I only trust what I can see?/Is this matter all that matters?/Is it more to me?/Checkin’ my reflection out a thousand times/Always have wondered who the hell’s that guy?”

Radnor’s home state Ohio could actually be anywhere. The song is universal, a tune about leaving home and hopefully becoming the person we want to be. While the song talks about specific times and places, it speaks a more universal language. “I fell in love with life/Is that such a crime?” The repetition of those lines and the “Ohio” that follows it build spectacularly, heightening the weight of the song.

Watching the people pass by Greene Street, the narrator is trapped. He sees a world of images unspoken, dreams never uttered. Yet behind the façade of what he sees is something else entirely, “It’s quiet on Greene Street/Everyone’s screaming.” Originally highlighted by a simply plucked guitar, the song builds to a full-throated roar.

On one level Golden State is an album that passes by on a summer breeze, light, airy, easy on the ears. Yet when you really listen, it blossoms in ways that you never expected. Just beyond the surface are the insecurities and tragedies that go along with growing up. Expectations aren’t always what they seem and what we see is only half the story. Radnor & Lee creates a thing of beauty amidst the terror of everyday life.