Casey Golden

Casey Golden is a forward-thinking musician based in Sydney. Described as ‘a brilliant improviser with a highly developed melodic sensibility’ (The Australian) and ‘a pianist of sheer class’ (Jazzwise), he’s been involved in a wide range of original music ranging from jazz/improvised projects to electronic, pop and film music.

Born in Sydney into a family of musicians, Golden is the grandson of internationally renowned jazz trumpeter Bob Barnard. He studied classical piano from a young age and was exposed to a wide variety of music through his mother’s vast record collection. He has a Bachelor of Music in jazz performance and has studied with Australian pianists including Alister Spence and Matt McMahon and international artists including Gerald Clayton, Lage Lund and Aaron Parks.

From 2010-2016 Casey led a trio featuring bassist Bill Williams and drummer Ed Rodrigues, performing widely and ‘crafting a tightly spun dynamic where the lines between head and improvisation are constantly blurred’ (All About Jazz). The trio released three albums together: Outliers; Live at Bennetts Lane; and Miniature, and received high critical praise for their unique aesthetic and strong connection as a band - ‘It is rare that a musical vision is so complete, and completely of its own world.’ (Australianjazz.net).

In 2019, Golden, Williams and Rodrigues reformed as the co-led trio States of Chaos and continued to build on their shared vision and history together. They were the 2020 Artists in Residence at Fine Music FM and have released three recordings: States of Chaos; Time’s End; and 3. They are featured in the short film Beneath the Stigma (SBS On Demand) - an experimental art film, fusing candid testimonies with a live improvised soundtrack.

At age 17, Casey won a BBM Travel Scholarship that allowed him to travel to London and further his studies among the London music scene. He returned to the UK to live in 2017 and was based there for several years, working across the London jazz scene as well as putting together his own band and recording the duo album Inventions with harp-guitarist (and uncle) Tony Barnard. His 2018 album ATLAS, recorded with his London-based band received critical acclaim, praising ‘the beautiful, intelligent, empathic, yet chop-restrained interplay between the four musicians’ (UK Vibe) and crediting Golden as ‘a fine orchestrator as well as an idiosyncratic composer and imaginative improviser’ (Sydney Morning Herald).
 
Besides his work in jazz and improvised music, Casey and his brother Beau Golden make up the future electronic/production duo This Week in the Universe. With a shared love for 1980s film music and vintage synths, their music has ranged from other-worldly instrumental sci-fi to collaborations with some of Australia’s leading pop artists. They are featured on Daniel Johns' ARIA No.1 album FutureNever (2022) as writers and producers of several tracks. They also contributed music for the hit podcast Who is Daniel Johns?, the upcoming short film What if the FutureNever happened? and created an exclusive remix for the Past, Present and FutureNever exhibition in Melbourne.

Along with his ongoing projects, Golden releases music as a solo artist, always ‘placing honesty, passion, originality and personal experience at the centre of his art’ (Fine Music Magazine). He released his debut solo piano recording Smaller Worlds in 2022 and his 2023 recording Orbits sees him fusing two sides of his musical personality with a set of open-ended trio music performed entirely on the Roland Alpha Juno synthesiser.

A musician with a strong personal vision and an expressive yet grounded approach to his instrument, Casey maintains a multitude of ongoing performing, recording and touring credits as a pianist, keys player, composer and producer.  He has been a finalist in the National Jazz Awards, the Freedman Fellowship, the APRA Professional Development Awards and the Bell Awards.