Golden Features

Tom Stell has performed as Golden Features since 2014.[1] When Peking Duk members, Adam Hyde and Reuben Styles, relocated from Canberra to Sydney they shared a house with Stell for a year.[2][3] He recalled, "Those two are like my brothers and without both of their support and guidance the Golden Features project never would have seen the light of day."[2]

Stell was previously Bomber in an electronic duo, Kyro and Bomber, with Kyro Herbert.[1] They combined with DJ Tigerlily (p.k.a. Dara Hayes) to release a single, "Look at the Lights" (featuring Jenifer Chung), in September 2013.[4] It is co-written by Stell, Herbert and Hayes;[5] which peaked at No. 14 on the ARIA Club Tracks chart.[4] Another charting single, "Every Nation", was attributed to the Mane Thing and Kyro & Bomber featuring Oh Snap!, using remixes by J-Trick, Spenda C, Jamie Vlahos, Pop the Hatch, and Rouge.[6] It had reached No. 45 on the same chart in March of that year.[6]

Golden Features adopted a gold mask for performances and initially maintained his anonymity. He explained, "You go out, you do whatever you have to do, you put it out there in the world, and you don't expect personal credit for it. You just do it because it satisfies you... I didn't want my face plastered over things just because I prefer to have a character that I speak through."[7] As a solo artist, he released a four-track self-titled extended play in February 2014.[7] After he revealed his name, he observed, "it became a gimmick and people became more interested in who is making the music rather than the music itself. So I cut it off and put my face up everywhere. The initial idea was like the music speak for itself, it backfired but I stand by it."[3]

The producer provided a remix version for the Presets' single, "No Fun" (August 2014), which made it to No. 13 on the ARIA Club Tracks.[8] His EP provided a single, "Tell Me" featuring Nicole Millar, in the following month, which reached No. 14 on the ARIA Dance Singles and No. 7 on the ARIA Hitseekers Singles charts.[9] It missed being listed on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2014, and was placed in the Second Hottest 100 (101–200) at No. 101.[10]

The artist's second four-track EP, XXIV, was issued in July 2015, and reached No. 56 on the ARIA Singles Chart.[11] The reviewer from Oz EDM felt, "[he] is known for his genre-bending signature sound (apart from his Mask)... [the EP] offers nothing short of amazing production and originality and genuinely is something for dance fans to get excited about."[12] Its lead single, "No One" featuring Thelma Plum, peaked at No. 58 on the same chart.[11] It was listed at No. 92 on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2015.[13]

Included on XXIV was "Telescope" featuring K.Flay, which the reviewer noticed provided, "intriguing RnB style vocals" by Flay and "offers a somewhat new style of what we have come to expect from Golden Features. Showing light elements of trap, 'Telescope''s upbeat tempo is less dark than the rest of the tracks."[12] In 2016 he released, "Wolfie" featuring Julia Stone, which reached No. 70 in Triple J Hottest 100, 2016.[13] Pilerats' Troy Mutton described, "it proved a little surprising to some. Not the out-and-out dark and brooding banger we've come to expect from [him], rather something sweeter, less intense. It's so sweet in fact that it's named after – and features a sound byte from – his young nephew... [Stone's] twee, Australian lilt is toned down ever-so-slightly to create something that is somehow both melancholic and euphoric."[14]

Golden Features supported Alison Wonderland on her tour of the United States in 2016 and undertook his own headlining tour of the US in February of the next year.[15] He released his debut album, Sect, on 26 July 2018, which reached No. 11 on the ARIA Albums Chart and No. 1 on the iTunes Chart.[16] Rudi K of Sputnikmusic rated it at 4.0 and explained, "[it] won’t do anything to dissuade critics of the cliché that Australia is perpetually one step and vast oceans behind everyone else when it comes to breaking new ground... but there are worse artists to draw inspiration from. For now, SECT introduces a distinctive enough sound to make the future enticingly dark."[17]