The Golden Filter

An obscure electro pair known as the Golden Filter built early interest through their reworkings of tracks by Cut Copy and Peter Bjorn and John. Despite concealing their identities, attention grew once they forwarded their initial track—a breathy, arpeggiated disco number called "Solid Gold"—to select music blogs during summer 2008. Dummy magazine promptly signed the Ohio-born Stephen Hindman, who handled production and synths, along with Australian transplant Penelope Trappes on vocals; the pair, then New York City residents, soon scheduled SXSW appearances ahead of a tour supporting the Presets. Dummy issued "Solid Gold" as a limited 7" single in 2009, backed by "Favourite Things." Their debut full-length, Voluspa, surfaced on Brille Records in April 2010. The following year brought Syndromes, a mini-album paired with a short film the duo co-created with Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli. Three volumes of demos and unreleased material appeared in 2014 under the title Unselected Works. The duo switched to Optimo Music for the 2015 EP PS1103, while sister imprint Optimo Trax simultaneously issued the split-EP Heavy Bastard alongside Morgan Hammer. Their second proper album, Still // Alone—the first after relocating to London—arrived in 2017.