Kelly Rose Golden of Rigby on Finding Your Voice After Leaving Home

Rigby is the solo project of 21-year-old Kelly Rose Golden. Rigby’s discography consists of three EPs and four singles, the latest of which is titled “In Limbo”. Everything that Rigby has released thus far has been self-recorded, self-produced, and self-released, making Golden a true indie artist. Despite working solo, she manages to produce studio-quality recordings from her bedroom in Los Angeles, California. 

Most of Rigby’s songs are introspective and heavy-hearted. It’s incredibly satisfying to listen to a song that expresses emotion so honestly that it makes it hard to separate yourself from the lyrics, which is exactly how Golden writes. Echoey looped guitar riffs provide a background for the vocals, usually layered with harmonies. This technique causes her voice to sound as if it’s floating above the rest of the song; an effect that can only be described as cloud-like. The lyrics hold a soft but intense grip on the listener. It is alarmingly easy to get sucked into these songs, losing yourself in feelings of disappointment and unrequited love. Golden’s confessions are more like poetic diary entries, giving us an intimate glimpse into her mind. They serve as a refuge — a place to go when you don’t feel seen or heard by even those closest to you. 

I should mention that Golden and I grew up in the same small, seaside town in Massachusetts. We attended high school together for a year, but flew under each other’s radars because she was a senior when I was a freshman. Sharing this is common, Golden’s music was especially exciting to me when I was introduced to it by a mutual friend. I felt more of a connection to her songs knowing that we shared an essential piece of our childhoods, even if our paths never crossed. More importantly, her success gives me hope for everyone I know from small towns who dream of bigger and more creative futures.

Last month I spoke with Kelly Rose Golden over FaceTime. We reminisced briefly, then hopped right into it. I was eager to talk about songwriting and making music in LA and, luckily, Kelly was equally enthusiastic about sharing her experience. Here’s what she had to say.

(This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.)

Ellie Fallon: What was it like to move from Marblehead to LA?

Kelly Rose Golden: I left Marblehead when I moved to LA to go to CalArts, and I haven’t really lived there since. I ended up dropping out of CalArts and living in New York for a bit, but I didn’t like it, so I moved back to LA. My family ended up moving out here anyway. Also my best friend from Marblehead lives here too, so it’s kind of weird not going back. 

At what point during all of that did you start writing songs and recording them?

Well, I didn’t start releasing music until college. CalArts has a winter session where you can do an independent project. It can be anything you want so I decided to actually release something for the first time. That was “Blue.” It was the first song I ever made, but then I didn’t really release anything else until after I dropped out. I started making more music while I was filming The Society because I had way more time. That was when I wrote the majority of the songs I put out that year. I also wrote “Headache” when I was living in New York because I went to Pace for a semester. I didn’t have anything to do then either; I was living in a bedroom that had no windows. It was just pitch black in there all the time. By then, [songwriting] had become something that I scheduled out time for. I didn’t really feel comfortable releasing music until I left home. 

Did you feel claustrophobic in Marblehead?

Yeah, definitely. And I was not anywhere close to calling myself a musician or a songwriter in high school ever. Even in college I didn’t see myself putting my music out there. I was also really young, but I’m still young. Leaving home kind of triggered that for me, just feeling confident enough to do it. 

Yeah, totally. I think a lot of people from this town have some sort of revelation after leaving. So, when you’re filming something how do you balance acting and writing music?

So I would have a week where I’d be called in like fourteen to fifteen hours a day, and then the next week not be called in at all. During that free time I’d write songs while living at my parents’ house. It really spawned out of having nothing to do all day, and feeling lonely and bored. [Acting] never really conflicted because I had such big chunks of free time. It just sort of happened organically. 

Your latest release (Dirty Girls) sounds really professionally produced. Was that all recorded from your bedroom like your earlier releases?

Yeah, I definitely did that. I don’t know if you're familiar with those snowball mics? They’re like this white ball on a little three-legged stand. They are ridiculous and they have the worst sound. That’s why every song I released in the beginning sounds like it has a telephone effect on it, it wasn’t a special effect or anything. I was really into Liz Phair at the time — she’s still one of my favorite artists — but I was really into her when I was in college and started releasing stuff. I think I was successful in convincing people that the effect was intentional. I didn’t get an interface until after my first year of college because I didn’t know what that was all about. Someone I knew from Marblehead actually got me a version of Logic and I started using that. It was like this garbage version of Logic that always crashed, but I’ve been using my own interface setup since I got it.  

I can’t believe Dirty Girls wasn’t recorded in a studio. 

I actually got super lucky in terms of production because I had been introduced to a lot of people that were in production at the time, and I would just talk to them about it. I realized that I didn’t know what I was doing, and I learned a lot of things that I could do but I didn’t know how to. And with “Fuck” on Dirty Girls, I just got lucky by experimenting with pedals. I ended up with the exact sound that I wanted and it felt really good. 

Did you meet these production people through the music scene?

I wrote all of Dirty Girls in quarantine, which I hate saying; anyways, I saw a lot of artists posting online about how they were bored with nothing to do. So, I started reaching out to a lot of artists that I like, just to tell them that I love their music. And then it started happening to me too. I’d get comments from other artists that I really like, which was really cool. I made a bunch of friends that way. I became friends with the lead singer of the band Dad Bod on Instagram, and they were actually just interviewed by Rolling Stone. I started reaching out to people during quarantine because I didn’t have anything else to do, and now I do it all the time. 

That’s a good tactic for making friends. I heard that you’ve also started playing with a live band?

I was actually just thinking about that, yeah. It’s something that I’ve never done before, but the songs that I make sound like they should be played that way. My idea of how the songs should be played live would have to include other members of a band and, until recently, I had no idea how to go about that. I was always too nervous to do anything about it. But a couple weeks ago I posted on my Instagram story being like, “Hey, I need a drummer,” and that’s the first time that has ever worked. I got in touch with some people in the LA area who were interested in working with me and I’m really excited. I don’t really know how to go about teaching my songs to other people when it’s always just been me. Callie from Dad Bod has been my saving grace because she’s helping me figure out how to do it, which has been very helpful. 

Do you have any live shows lined up in the future?

I’m hoping to go on tour in the spring, but there’s minimal information on that. I also want to play a lot of live shows this fall and winter, and I have a couple of friends who are helping me figure out the LA scene. 

That would be your first tour, correct?

Yeah, first ever. I’m so excited but it’s also so much to figure out. I have a lot of people I can talk to about it though, so that’s been helpful. 

As Kelly gears up for her first tour, I can’t help but brim over with excitement. Her recordings are infused with such honest emotional intensity that I see translating seamlessly to live shows. Look out for a possible Rigby show at the Horn Gallery this year!

Please don’t forget to check out Rigby’s newest EP and her music video for “Andy” here.

- Ellie Fallon