Golden Features

Although Sydney native Tom Stell obscures his face behind an eerie golden mask, the emotive electronic music he makes under the name of Golden Features is very vulnerable. Stell, born in 1991, got his start in the early 2010s producing super-sized electro-house in the duo Kyro & Bomber, but his music took a deeper turn with his self-titled debut EP as Golden Features in 2014. Since then, he’s developed a unique fusion of moody low-end, atmospheric keys and silvery vocal hooks, carefully riding the line between deep house and future bass. He added a dose of underground techno on his 2018 debut LP, SECT, sinking his teeth into sinister arpeggios and overdriven drums. Then, in 2020, he teamed up with Seattle’s ODESZA to form BRONSON, offering a darkly alluring fusion of synths, breakbeats and wistfully reverberant vocals. Not only is the project more than the sum of its parts; its widescreen scope feels like the two acts’ expansive visions multiplied.