GoldCoast

For Rich and Jen Mahan of GoldCoast, musical and marital harmony aren't all that different. “We sing the way we do because we’re tuned into each other,” Rich says. “We’re both good listeners,” Jen adds. “We know intuitively when it’s working—and when it isn’t.”

You can hear that chemistry throughout the Nashville duo’s upcoming debut. On “Angelena,” Jen’s powerful voice takes flight amid Rich’s roaring guitar and a chirping Hammond organ. You can positively hear the smiles in their voices singing together on “Long Way to Go,” an irrepressible road song about finding your way.

What sounds natural wasn’t automatic, they admit. “It took time to get our sound together,” Jen says. “We didn’t force it,” Rich adds. “It just coalesced.” They give their new songs the same freedom to be themselves, from the punchy horn lines animating “Golden Love” to the pulsing Arturia MiniFreak synthesizer that gives “Hi-Fi Receiver” its new-wave sheen. “The song dictates the sound,” Rich explains.

That instinct also guides who sings lead. “The song usually picks the singer,” Rich says. “Angelena” sits squarely in Jen’s wheelhouse, while “You’ve Got Everything” feels tailor-made for Rich. The duet “Good Kisser,” meanwhile, calls for both, with the couple trading sweet-nothing verses before their voices embrace in the chorus.

That give-and-take has become second nature on stage. “When you hit the right note singing with someone, they respond physically—lifting up, turning toward you,” Rich says. “We’ve gotten really good at picking up each other’s cues.” Their harmonies rely on that same intuition. “Normally he goes low, and I go high,” Jen explains, “but we also like swapping parts to change the dynamic.”

That deep connection was years in the making. Long before GoldCoast, Rich and Jen were regulars on the Los Angeles music scene, playing their own gigs and turning up at everyone else’s. They met in early 2000 at The Mint, a fixture of L.A.’s alt-country scene. Jen was there one night when she spotted an unfamiliar guitarist onstage tearing through the Allman Brothers’ “Whipping Post.” “I knew everyone there except him.” By the end of the song, she was cheering at the front of the stage. They spoke afterward and spent the next few years crossing paths at gigs and gatherings.

They stayed in touch after Rich moved to Nashville in 2010. Over time, their phone conversations began to feel different. “I remember getting goosebumps,” Jen recalls. She came to Nashville in 2019 to see where those conversations might lead. A year later, she was ready to trade the Golden State for Music City.

Rich moved for music. Jen moved for love. Together, they found both. “What we’re making now is better than anything either of us did individually,” Jen says. Rich agrees. “We’re better together. That’s true of the music and the marriage.”