by mariah estran
photo by lauren nieves
In late September, Sloan Golden released her debut EP, Long Conversations. The six-track project highlights pivotal discussions had over several years — the chats during a journey of grief and healing, and conversations where friends would lend an ear. Now, fans can find solace in those cathartic releases.
During the fabrication of Long Conversations, she found that while the topics were deep, they allowed her to process her emotions further and ultimately understand that these experiences are not only singular. Songs like “Dressing Room” describe that feeling that overcomes you while standing in a department store mirror, while “Dandelion” tackles the aftermath of assault. Then, the scene is set in “Parking Lot,” as you experience those late-night drives that spark a much-needed dialogue with your friends.
“I hope that the EP becomes a companion to whoever needs it,” she says on the EP. “These stories are specific to me but they're also everybody else's.”
Sloan Golden took a moment to tell us more about creating Long Conversations, sharing personal stories, making “Dandelion,” and her personal growth.
There’s a major moment in this new EP. You describe permitting yourself to process trauma. The project, overall, allows space for that, but why was it important to disclose these honest and meaningful stories to your listeners?
Sloan: “While I was going through these things — you never go through trauma and you're like, ‘Oh, I'm going to write a song about this.’
Writing all of them helped me to process those events. It helped me get to the other side where I wasn't holding on to things as much. I was accepting things that have happened in my life.
I was sharing those stories with people to let them know that they're not alone and to provide a source of support through music for anyone who might relate to the topics on the EP.”
While creating this EP, was it easy to do so? Or had you already arrived at a place where it became okay to lay it all out?
Sloan: “It was a process along the way, the songs were written over six years. The oldest song on the EP is ‘Dandelion,’ which was born in 2018.
It was a process of getting all the songs together. As I was writing them, I didn't know they were becoming this EP, I was just writing things I was feeling. Then they all came together in this conceptual way.
I think when I wrote the last song, ‘Long Conversations’ — that was the last song of the EP in 2022. It felt like the bow on top of the whole thing. Like that chapter is closed, I've addressed, for now, what I needed to say.”
The EP is set up to go through the stages of grief. When you started piecing it together, how did you see that it was naturally describing these pillars?
Sloan: “I was driving home one day and thinking about how the EP would be set up — chronologically, in terms of the events and how they happened in my life. I was thinking about the themes of each song. Whether it's the EP as a whole, or the songs individually, they all hold one stage of grief or many. Like, in ‘Dandelion,’ you can go through all the stages of grief in that song alone.
In the entire EP, you go from the beginning to the end, which is acceptance.”
Do you feel a sense of release now that it is complete and released to the world?
Sloan: “Healing from any sort of trauma, it’s a constant back and forth.
I’ll say, having captured all of these moments over the last three years and putting them into this EP — I feel like it’s weird to say pain is worth it to make good art. But I'm glad that it wasn't for nothing. I was able to take it and make something out of it to help me process those things.”
For this EP, the overall sound, you found inspiration from artists such as Maggie Rogers, but how was it encapsulating these major emotions in your sound?
Sloan: “The modernism of Maggie Rogers' first production style (mainly from her first album). Also, the raw instrumentation of the band Daughter. I wasn't sure how those two would mesh, but when we started reproducing the songs in 2020, we found that in ‘Dandelion.’
That was the first one we started reproducing and it was interesting. Some of the songs on the EP can be a little angrier. ‘Dandelion’ deals with an intense subject, but is carried in such a delicate way, sonically.
I wanted to infuse the songs with the elements of anger and panic. So at the end of ‘Dandelion,’ there are sounds of high-pitched synths, but they're actually high-pitched screams.
Then in ‘Dressing Room,’ the melody has a cynical nature, which is an allusion to cynical thoughts. Then in ‘Corner of My Eye’ we incorporated my sophomore college roommate. She videoed me yelling at someone on the phone. I took that audio clip and put it the song at the end of the bridge; and the beginning of the song.”
I want to circle back to “Dandelion,” specifically the visual imagery. You used black goo to symbolize permanent scars. What can you tell us about the music video and the creative process behind it?
Sloan: “Director Maddi Boll and I had worked on the creative for ‘Dandelion’ for a long time. We wanted to make sure that whatever we did wasn’t going to reemerge people in whatever trauma they were potentially going through. We want to be subtle about the ways that we visually showcase an assault happening.
I wanted to bring life to the feeling of being permanently marked by a traumatic event. So we made these two different worlds. One world, it was real, where all of the actions were taking place. Then the other world was like in the field where I covered myself with black goo. It's an abstract interpretation of what is going on in the real world. When I get touched on the cheek by the male character in that music video, black goo shows up on my cheek.
It was a cathartic experience to make the music video — it was a little bit harder emotionally than I thought it would be. But it is one of the videos I’m the most proud of.”
How do you feel these songs have unveiled your growth, musically or even as an individual?
Sloan: “When I had the first four songs in 2020, I thought they were amazing, and it's not that they weren't, but they were amazing for a 21-year-old me. Now, four years after that, it’s been amazing to see how much those songs have grown, and how much I have grown both myself and my songwriting. Also, my ability to convey what I want musically.
I worked with four different producers on this EP, it was great to see what kind of working styles I prefer and the best ways to articulate what I want sonically. My biggest concern was that it wouldn’t be cohesive because so many people had touched it. But I feel confident in all of the songs, even though they have so many people, they are also mine.”
What would you like listeners to take away after they have a moment with this project?
Sloan: “I hope the EP becomes a companion to whoever needs it.
I think there's an interesting conversation to be had about what is called ‘Sad Girl Indie Music.’ Phoebe Bridgers has kind of been a part of it and so has Lucy Dacus. My wish isn't for any of these songs to make people sad, but for it to be something people listen to when they’re sad and need comfort.
I try to be specific in some of my lyrics on the EP, like with ‘Parking Lot’ and ‘Dressing Room.’ Even though those things are personal experiences, I think everyone has their own parking lot story or that retail store where they had a meltdown in the dressing room or stayed up all night with their friends because they didn't want to go home.
These stories are specific to me but they're also everybody else's.”