Deb Googe & Cara Tivey on da Googie, The Golden Thread & My Bloody Valentine

Deb Googe and Cara Tivey join Mark Millar on the XS Noize Podcast to discuss The Golden Thread — their first full-length album released under their own names — plus improvisation, creative freedom and Deb’s work in My Bloody Valentine. da Googie is the solo project of Deb Googe, best known as the bass player in My Bloody Valentine and Thurston Moore Group. Her music blends traditional basslines with abstract noise and layered soundscapes. Cara Tivey is a pianist and composer whose career includes work with Billy Bragg, Everything But The Girl, Blur, Au Pairs and The Lilac Time. In this conversation, Deb and Cara talk about bringing The Golden Thread to Belfast as part of the Oh Yeah Presents immersive series, how the music became visual as well as sonic, and why the project gave both artists a new sense of ownership after decades of working inside other people’s music. They also discuss how da Googie began with bass loops, field recordings and abstract sound, how Cara’s piano changed the shape of the project, reshaping improvisations into finished pieces, the challenge of performing the material live, the physical force of My Bloody Valentine, women in alternative music, and why there is no grand master plan for what comes next. Chapters 00:00 Intro / da Googie + Cara Tivey join the XS Noize Podcast 00:09 Bringing The Golden Thread to Belfast 01:15 Making the music visual 02:52 The Oh Yeah Presents immersive series 03:22 How Deb and Cara are doing now 04:19 Releasing an album under their own names 06:17 Cara Tivey on ownership and autonomy 06:48 Deb Googe on becoming less fearful creatively 08:41 How Deb and Cara first met 11:05 How da Googie changed when Cara joined 14:21 Cara entering Deb’s noise world 16:35 Creating space between bass and piano 18:00 Punk instinct meets classical training 18:27 Why The Golden Thread feels unsettling 19:35 Reshaping improvisations into finished songs 21:47 The Longest Wait 22:51 Taking the music into a live setting 24:18 Deb Googe on My Bloody Valentine’s physical sound 25:25 Stepping away from My Bloody Valentine in the ’90s 27:28 How things are with My Bloody Valentine now 28:41 The importance of instinct 29:07 Women in alternative music 33:36 What Deb and Cara are into outside music 34:28 What keeps them creatively inspired 36:24 The future of da Googie 38:14 Three songs to explore 39:37 What they want people to understand about The Golden Thread 40:15 Closing thoughts Follow XS Noize Instagram → / xsnoizemusic Facebook → / xsnoizemusic X / Twitter → https://x.com/xsnoizemusic Listen & watch more episodes YouTube → @thexsnoizepodcast Website → https://www.xsnoize.com About XS Noize XS Noize is a music platform featuring interviews, reviews, and news with some of the most influential artists in the world. Hosted & produced by Mark Millar. Related topics da Googie interview Deb Googe interview Cara Tivey interview The Golden Thread da Googie + Cara Tivey My Bloody Valentine Thurston Moore Group Everything But The Girl Billy Bragg Blur Au Pairs The Lilac Time Oh Yeah Centre Belfast Oh Yeah Presents immersive series Tiny Global Productions Experimental music Noise music Field recordings Bass and piano Improvisation Women in alternative music XS Noize Podcast #daGoogie #DebGooge #CaraTivey #MyBloodyValentine #XSNoizePodcast