Golden Features

Australian DJ and producer Tom Stell mixes dark, gritty electro-house with shimmering dance-pop as Golden Features. Easily recognizable by his signature gold-plated mask, he first surfaced with a self-titled 2014 EP showcasing an inventive, bass-heavy sound influenced by progressive house and trap. Club and radio play led to headlining tours and work with Katy Perry, and his first album, SECT, appeared in 2018 and reached number 11 on Australia’s album chart. He then collaborated with electro-pop duo the Presets for 2019′s Raka EP, then teamed up with American electronic duo ODESZA as BRONSON and released a tense, thrilling debut in 2020. Golden Features’ second album, 2023′s Sisyphus, contains some of Stell’s most propulsive club tracks.
Born in 1991, Sydney native Tom Stell produced music as half of electro-house duo Kyro & Bomber during the early 2010s. Donning a gold mask, initially as a way to preserve anonymity and let the audience focus on the music rather than the person behind it, Stell called himself Golden Features and released his self-titled debut EP on Warner Music Australia in 2014. The song “Tell Me,” featuring singer/songwriter Nicole Millar and a distinctive, whooshing bassline, earned radio and club attention. A Parlophone-issued second EP, 2015′s XXIV, featured collaborations with Thelma Plum and K.Flay. Golden Features released the single “Wolfie,” with Julia Stone, on ODESZA’s Foreign Family Collective in 2016. Noticeably lighter and more upbeat than some of Stell’s other material, the song was backed with the darker tech-house track “Funeral.” Stell co-wrote and played synths on the song “Déjà Vu” from Katy Perry’s 2017 album Witness. Golden Features’ debut album, SECT, arrived in 2018, and it debuted at number 11 on the ARIA chart, as Stell kicked off a headlining Australian tour.
In 2019, Golden Features and the Presets released the EP Raka, featuring the gold-certified single “Paradise.” Stell and ODESZA formed a project called BRONSON, and their 2020 self-titled debut album included appearances by Gallant, lau.ra, and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. It reached number five on Billboard’s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart. Golden Features released two singles, “Touch” (featuring Rromarin) and “Vigil,” in 2022. Both songs appeared on 2023′s Sisyphus, one of his most energetic, club-focused releases. ~ Paul Simpson