With "The Uplift Project," A Young Artist Takes Flight

Tyler Goldchain (a.k.a. Tyler Jenkins) at Elm City LIT Fest in 2022. Lucy Gellman File Photo.

A man with long black locs and a smile taps his foot in time, strumming gently at his guitar. With each strum, a warm sound fills the air. As if he and the instrument are in a conversation, he sings out the words: I know you don’t like losing control, and it’s like a call for the whole room to listen. 

This is a taste of Tyler Goldchain’s “Control,” a new track he is set to release over the summer months. This year, it’s also part of how 23-year-old Goldchain (a.k.a. New Havener Tyler Jenkins) is growing his musical footprint in New Haven. This summer, that work includes several award-winning film soundtracks, his May 2023 “Uplift Festival,” and his upcoming single “Closer.”

“Music for me feels like an entry point into the human psyche,” he said. “People not only respect musicians but the music itself. It feels so amazing for me to be able to tap into work that was made thousands of years ago that’s still relevant.”

Born and raised in New Haven, Jenkins came from a family with a great appreciation for music, he said. As the son of a pastor, he was surrounded by church musicians—and became one early on. His first instrument was a drum set that he played in church at four years old. 

While it was gospel and reggae that shaped him, Jenkins spent his childhood opening up to many genres. By fourth grade, he was playing multiple instruments and hooked on the game Guitar Hero.

“I thought that was the coolest game ever,” he remembered. Soon after, he studied at the Neighborhood Music School. By middle school, with support and coaching from his music teacher, Olivia Malin, he had started a band called Genera. It pushed him to teach himself the piano his sophomore year of high school.   

When he was in high school at Wilbur Cross High School and the Educational Center for the Arts (ECA), ConnCAT Director of Programs Steve Driffin noticed the group, and invited them to play a gig for the organization. It became a launch pad to other events, including time at the first Seeing Sounds Festival and a performance at Elm City LIT Fest last year. 

That doesn’t mean he’s always felt certain as a musician, he said. The same tastes that nurtured and taught him were sometimes a source of self-consciousness. From middle school, Jenkins listened to a wide variety of music, dipping into anything from punk rock to reggae. He enjoyed listening to bands like Mumford & Sons or Black Parade, but up until early high school, he felt a little self-conscious about listening to that sort of music as he grew up in New Haven. 

“I’d be the only Black person at some of the pop-punk shows or these math rock concerts,” he remembered.  

Now, he’s proud of the influences he grew up listening to, he said, and hopes to reflect that in his music. Musicians he looks up to include Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Summer Walker, Daniel Caesar, and New Haven’s own Stout, who was a vocal coach for him over the summer. 

Like his influences, his stage name also comes from high school years that were formative to him as a musician. The name “Goldchain” was birthed when Jenkins was in high school, and he’d bought a chain with Christmas money. 

With excitement, he posted a picture of himself with his new piece, writing that he was now “Tyler with the gold chain.” Once he made it to college at Wesleyan University, people recognized him from that snap, and the name stuck. Soon, Jenkins changed his Instagram to “Tyler Goldchain.”  Though it had a lighthearted origin, he is finding a deeper meaning within the name.

He's quick to say that he was turning out music well before that. Jenkins made his first song, “Butterflies,” on his mom’s iPad as a senior at Wilbur Cross, inspired by hearing that Steve Lacy made his song “Dark Red" on his iPhone. He uploaded the song to SoundCloud, then emailed his entire school with the link. 

“Shoutout to the Principal, Ms. [Edith] Johnson, she forwarded the email to the rest of the staff,” Jenkins remembered with a laugh. The song caught on.  

“People not only respect musicians but the music itself,” he added. “ It feels so amazing for me to be able to tap into work that was made thousands of years ago that’s still relevant.”

Since that time, Jenkins has scored five films, including “Graveyard” by his good friend and former college classmate Connell Oberman. The short film won Jenkins “Best Original” score from the LA Crime and Horror Film Festival. The film was also officially selected by the Maryland International Film Festival and awarded best Crime Short by the LA-based IndieX Fest. 

Other scores have also garnered Jenkins high praise. The experimental short film “L’entre Deux,” directed by Chloe de Montgolfier, received an official selection from the Student World Impact Festival. His most recent work in the short film “Artboy,” directed by Eli Canter, was awarded first place Best Picture at the Redstone Film Festival and was the Grand Jury winner at the Independent Film Festival Boston. 

Amy Christman, music department chair at the Educational Center for the Arts, described Jenkins as “highly creative and kind.” Jenkins was at ECA for grades nine through twelve, where he studied percussion, music theory, and audio production.

“Tyler was always eager to collaborate with others, embrace new ideas, and put his unique voice into projects,” Christman said. “One example was his senior recital, for which he composed and performed a drum track to a Youtube video which was popular at the time, on ‘Why Water is Not Wet,’ and collaborating with another drummer in an epic, live drum battle.”

Though Jenkins has played shows since he was in middle school, releasing music is still very new to him. In recent years, he’s become more serious about singing. Jenkins plans for his newest release to be sometime in the summer, a single titled “Closer”. 

“There’s no racial boundary with music except for the ones that history has presented and the ones they try to enforce on us,” he said. 

That was also the inspiration behind his 2023 Uplift Project, a live educational experience that, on a recent Saturday, connected young adults and high school students with important information about personal finance, mental health and the music business. 

“It’s an attempt for the community to educate itself through community members who are really versed in those topics. It’s heavily inspired by TED talks, late night shows and classroom lectures,” he said.  

Despite the rainy day, the Uplift Project rose to the occasion. It was held in the arts hall in ECA. Goldchain, a graduate of the school, called it a full-circle moment. “It was such a blessing, that rain was really coming down,” he said. 

The project is now in the post-production stage, which Goldchain expects to be three to five months as editing and marketing plans are put into play. Goldchain hopes to release several two- to four-minute videos later this year.

Shekinah Murray is a graduate of the Arts Council's Youth Arts Journalism Initiative and a senior in New Haven, where he is homeschooled.