| Goldmyth | |
| Birth Name: | Jenessa Smith |
| Origin: | Utah |
| Genre: | electropop, indie pop, lo-fi |
| Instrument: | harp, singing |
| Associated Acts: | Overcoats, Hazel English, Verite, Bat For Lashes Clario, girl in red, Beabadoobee |
Goldmyth is the stage name for Jenessa Smith, a harpist and songwriter who performs indie pop in Provo, Utah. She learned to play the harp as a teenager, and is influenced by indie rock. Critics praised her ethereal and melancholy harp sounds in her tightly produced indie-pop songs from her EP Faded Dream (2017). Her single "My Mistake" had a similar reception. "Lover's Letdown" was featured in the pilot episode of the HBO series The Sex Lives of College Girls.
Smith took harp and piano lessons as a child. As a teenager, she listened to indie rock.[1] Her influences are Joni Mitchell, James Blake, Sufjan Stevens. and Death Cab for Cutie.[2] Nate Pyfer and Mason Porter co-produced her EP Faded Dream. Pyfer previously produced for Kaskade and The Moth & The Flame, while Porter has produced for Haarlem and Polytype.[3] Smith said that Robbie Connolly was helpful in getting her solo project off the ground.[1] Smith writes her songs using a harp and a looper in Provo, Utah.[1]
At Cover Me, Ben Easton praised Smith's music, describing it as "washed-out and blissful, filled with malaise yet still musically vivid." HillyBilly praised Smith's Faded Dream (2017) EP for showing "undisputed skill in crafting tight, concise indie-pop compositions."[4] Paste magazine described her vocals as "otherworldly" in songs with "vulnerable lyrics."[4] Birch Street Radio reviewed Smith's debut EP, Faded Dream, describing her music as a blend of her "delicate" voice with "harp [and] layers of synth and percussion."[5] Obscure Sound described "Lover's Letdown" as alternating between rhythmically sparse and lush and "infused with glistening harp sounds".[3]
Her single "My Mistake" has a "melancholic pop sound" and "lush vocals" in a song with "excellent production and songwriting," according to indie music review site Obscure Sound.[6] Birch Street Radio included the song in their July 2020 roundup and noticed that the harp took center stage.[7] Indie Shuffle also liked the harp's unique role in the song, writing that it created an "organically magical sound."[8] At Cost Magazine liked the song's "quiet pensiveness" and its "ephemeral fade".[9] Smith wrote the song after reflecting on her mistakes, or lack thereof, after a long-term relationship ended and she moved to LA.[2]
Smith said that when she first heard Gorillaz's "Melancholy Hill", she felt a kinship with a song that led her to cover it.[10] Smith's song, "Lover's Letdown", was featured in the first episode of the HBO series The Sex Lives of College Girls.[11]