Girl groups are fun and with a name like theirs and a free show at the Echoplex, it was difficult to resist to the temptation to check out Stone Darling on Thursday night.
With their Phil-Spector-shoegazing melodies, Liv Mrasico, Lindsay Dawn, Mikki Itzigsohn and Paige Stark build layers of vocal harmonies, and a sunny and bright décor with that undeniable 60s vibe able to transport you in a happy place. They were actually very easy to like, their songs seemed so familiar at the first listening, familiar and warm like a gold sunshine, but also slowly distilling a soothing nostalgia.
Fresh from their SXSW performance, the four girls, with the help of one guy on guitar, sang a few of their sunny beach songs, all focusing on these arranged vocal harmonies which may just oscillate between the religious (I read that one of them was a gospel singer) and the profane (well it’s still rock’ n roll and they put stone(d) in their name).
One of them, who was sitting and helping Paige Stark with the vocals, was playing a mini xylophone or a mini harp (like the one June Carter Cash used to play) may be giving a light country flavor to some of their harmonious Laurel Canyon-inspired songs.
One last thing, they do a fantastic cover of ‘Can you get to that’ by Funkadelic, and you can get one of their songs, ‘All I wanna do’ in exchange of your email on their bandcamp page: http://stonedarling.bandcamp.com