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Goldheart Assembly are an British alternative pop/rock based in London, England. Championed by radio DJs Steve Lamacq and Marc Riley, they released their debut record in 2010 and have since to toured with acts such as Band of Horses, Civil Wars, We are Scientists and The Low Anthem and made appearances at Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds and Latitude festivals.

History
Goldheart Assembly formed in 2007, as a group of six musicians from various bands. They met at club nights, at Covent Garden’s Rock Garden, run by now-bandleader James Dale and magician Pete Hathway. Slowly, after a period of “band hopping and stand ins,” a stable line-up became Goldheart Assembly, who bonded over a mutual love of The Beatles and named themselves after a Guided By Voices tune, Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory. Founding members James Dale and John Herbert often joke about how they met whilst working as zookeepers at Whipsnade Zoo.

In 2009 they recorded a live session for Steve Lamacq on BBC Radio 1, being the first unsigned band to do so "in years". In the same year, the band performed on the BBC Introducing Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, as well as a headline slot at the Camden Crawl and appearances at Isle of Wight, Wychwood, Middlesbrough Music Live, Reading, Leeds and V festivals.

Goldheart Assembly’s debut single, a double A-side featuring the tracks So Long St. Christopher and Oh Really, was released on 15 June 2009 on the independent label Heron Recordings.

In late 2009 Goldheart Assembly signed to the independent UK label Fierce Panda Records. Their debut album, Wolves and Thieves, was released to digital download on 8 March 2010, with CD release on 15 March. The majority of the album was recorded at Forncett Industrial Steam Museum in Norfolk, England, and several tracks feature the sound of live steam engines. The remaining tracks were recorded at Jools Holland's Helicon studios with British producer Laurie Latham.

In June 2010 it was announced that guitarist Dominic Keshavarz had left the band.

It was announced in January 2011 that the band has started to produce a new LP.

In 2013, Goldheart Assembley appeared on an episode of Something Special on CBeebies. (Update this is completely wrong, it was infact in a 2011 version of the Makaton programme. The 2013 was aired in 2011 and it has been running on repeat througout 2011, 2012 and now 2013)

Early in 2012 Goldheart Assembly were asked, along with the likes of King Creosote, White Lies and Jason Lytle, to participate in a tribute album for the seminal 80’s band Talk Talk. Entitled the ‘Spirit of Talk Talk’, the band contributed a version of the song ‘Chameleon Day' from the 1986 album ‘The Colour of Spring’.

Press
The band has recently picked up much favourable press, including a double-page article in NME magazine on 3 April 2010, and a feature in The Guardian's First Sight column. Since its release, Wolves and Thieves has received universal acclaim from the music and UK national press, with positive reviews in publications including Mojo, Uncut and NME magazines as well as The Sun and The Independent newspapers.

Style
Goldheart Assembly's sound has been described as organic and characterised by pastoral west-coast style vocal harmonies. Taking an experimental approach to recording and songwriting, the band has been known to make use of unusual objects as musical instruments, such as metal radiator guards, doors and steam engines.

Members
Goldheart Assembly are:


 * James Dale: lead vocals, bass, Autoharp, misc.


 * John Herbert: lead vocals, guitar, misc.


 * Nicky Francis: drums, vocals, misc.


 * Jake Bowser: instruments with keys, vocals, misc.


 * Kyle Hall: guitar.

Previous members:


 * Thomas Hastings: Portasound, ukulele, glockenspiel, vocals, misc.


 * Dominic Keshavarz: guitar.

Discography

 * Albums
 * Wolves and Thieves (March 2010) Fierce Panda Records


 * Singles
 * So Long St. Christopher / Oh Really (June 2009) Heron Recordings
 * King of Rome (March 2010) Fierce Panda Records
 * Under The Waterway (May 2010) Fierce Panda Records
 * Last Decade /Going Down Well (November 2010) Fierce Panda Records
 * Harvest in the Snow (free download) (March 2011) Fierce Panda Records