Golden Coral Desert: Jack Goldstein

Event information

A hyper-country odyssey through the backwoods of love, identity, grief and resilience in the face of a cock-eyed burning world; a fever dream in a universe where Britney Spears renders a fully fledged country and western album around the time she shaves her head; the pinpointed moment that the cosmic heartache begins to envenom our world.

Jack Goldstein returns to Oxford for an intimate show to herald the coming of his new album HELLFIRE BUMPER STICKER COWPUNCHING JEWBOY, out 20 June on Fabulous Things Records. Support from Garden Centre and Haus of Aphra.

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For years, Garden Centre’s Max Levy has been searching for a steady stream. A stream to watch sports on, a stream to glean information from, a stream to wade in. Occasionally, he’ll immerse himself shin-deep in an actual, physical stream: an activity that pulls him in closest to the hum of the universe. Living is a fractured and fractious experience. A stream is a promise of resonance, unifying our innermost being with our outside reality.

Searching For A Stream, Garden Centre’s fourth and newest album, is a playful meditation on the interchange between actual and vicarious living. The album’s twelve songs are populated by narrators whose immediate realities are clouded by nostalgia, superstitions; the glory and pain of other people. A train guard who usually takes pleasure in telling jokes over the intercom can no longer spin his pain into a punchline (he’s just seen a horrific injury on TV). A man, asleep at his desk, sings frantically and fondly about his own personally curated hall of fame. A kid interrupts an important conversation with the sound of his dirt bike. Levy’s voice is as urgent as a sea urchin sting, piercing scattered memories and mundanities in search of a deeper connection—a stream of resonance.

The band has toured extensively across the UK and abroad with the likes of Dry Cleaning and Porridge Radio (with whom Garden Centre shares members), and has also found a fan in Frank Ocean, who has playlisted Garden Centre multiple times on his popular Blonded radio show.

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Haus of Aphra is an experimental sound project created by musician Aphra Taylor while studying Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London, utilising archives and field recordings to create hauntological soundscapes and repetitive looping drones. They have appeared at shows and exhibitions including ‘In Motion, Still’ at Laurie Grove Baths (2024), ‘Dominion’ at Safehouse 1&2 (2025), and ‘Thread of the Invisible: Unseen Connections’ at HArts Lane (2025).

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Supports TBA.
This show is 18+.
The Library is not accessible for wheelchair users.