Song of the Day Spotlight - Darlingside "Futures"

If you're a writer, you've no doubt heard the phrase, "kill your darlings." I've seen it attributed to William Faulkner. Whoever it originates with, the idea behind the phrase is that you have to edit yourself. You'll write sentences, dialog, scenes, which you love - your "darlings" - but which often must be edited out - "killed" - for the sake of the integrity of the work. Or just to make it better.

Loved the music of Darlingside for a long time before someone I was with asked them where the name of the band came from. I'd interviewed them on the radio several times, but the question never came up.  David Senft explained to us how the name originated with the literary phrase - and that they'd changed the "c" in "-cide" to an "s" so people would say it correctly.

Aha! It was a "light-bulb" moment - made so much sense! And made me love the band and their music even more. Informs the way some perceive the band, too, I think - NPR called their music "exquisitely-arranged, literary-minded, baroque folk-pop” - a quote you'll find on the band's Wikipedia page. Ironically, it's a nice turn of phrase, but a bit of a darling itself - doesn't really describe the band and their music with much specificity.

Darlingside is a four-piece based out of the Boston, Massachusetts area. Really got into their music with the release of their last album, 2015's brilliant Birds Say - we played the track "Go Back" a bunch on the radio in Vermont. Don Mitchell, Auyon Mukharji, Harris Paseltine and David Senft gather 'round a single condenser microphone on stage and let their harmonies flow - their voices work incredibly well together, with the harmonies indeed being "exquisitely-arranged".

The four switch between an array of instruments depending on the song, all seemingly adept on a few. Guitars, bass, a kick-drum, but also mandolins, violins, keyboards and other oddities - a few songs on the new album Extralife even feature a bizaare little hand-held synth called the Septavox, for example.

They're gifted musicians, talented vocalists, hard workers and genuinely nice people. Hard not to root for them, so... I do! As I embark on new adventures, I'm truly enjoying this new track from their album Extralife - the album came out at the end of February. The whole thing is beautiful - if you like this track, check out the rest. This is "Futures"