Golden Animals

Originally assembled in Brooklyn, New York, the retro-indie-folk-psychedelic-blues duo Golden Animals took shape when American vocalist/guitarist Tommy Eisner joined forces with Swedish-born drummer/backing vocalist Linda Beecroft. After completing their initial EP in 2006 within that crowded metropolitan setting, the pair undertook a cross-country trek that delivered them to the stark expanses of the California desert, spurred by the example of formative influence Jim Morrison, and there they started writing fresh material while house-sitting for countercultural icon Gordon Kennedy, writer of the pre-hippie natural-living handbook Children of the Sun. The experience directly yielded their 2008 debut album, the pronouncedly 1960s-steeped Free Your Mind and Win a Pony, helmed by indie-rock producer Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio, Blonde Redhead) and issued on Happy Parts Recordings.