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Darlingside is a four-person
indie folk Indie folk (also called alternative folk) is an alternative genre of music that arose in the 1990s among musicians from indie rock scenes influenced by folk music. Characteristics The staff of '' Paste Magazine'' said in 2020: "No music genre ...
band from
Boston, MA Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
. The band consists of Don Mitchell, Auyon Mukharji, Harris Paseltiner, and David Senft. Their style has been described as “exquisitely arranged, literary-minded, baroque
folk-pop Folk-pop is a broad Music genre#Subtypes, musical fusion genre that includes contemporary folk songs with pop music, pop arrangements, and pop songs with intimate, acoustic music, acoustic-based folk music, folk arrangements. Folk-pop has been ...
” by
All Songs Considered ''All Songs Considered'' is a weekly online podcast and radio program hosted by Robin Hilton. It was created in January 2000 by NPR's ''All Things Considered'' then-director Bob Boilen and produced by Robin Hilton beginning in 2001. At first, ...
. the band has released ten EPs and LPs, their latest being ''Everything is Alive''.


History

Darlingside began as a five-piece touring Indie rock band in the fall of 2009. Members (Sam, Don, Auyon, Harris, and David) met as undergraduates while attending
Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...
in Williamstown, MA. A previous iteration of the band existed while they were students and included as many as seven members (other members were Eli Walker, Dan Wollin, and Shea Chen). In 2010, the band went on their first national tour and released a self-produced six-track studio EP, ''EP 1''. They released their debut full-length album, ''Pilot Machines'', in 2012, which was recorded and co-produced by Nathaniel Kunkel (who has worked with
Sting Stimulator of interferon genes (STING), also known as transmembrane protein 173 (TMEM173) and MPYS/MITA/ERIS is a regulator protein that in humans is encoded by the STING1 gene. STING plays an important role in innate immunity. STING induces typ ...
,
Lyle Lovett Lyle Pearce Lovett (born November 1, 1957) Lyle Lovett Pageat Allmusic – Lovett's Genre and Styles. Retrieved February 2, 2007 is an American country singer and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded 14 albums and released 25 singles to dat ...
,
Graham Nash Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is a British and American musician, singer and songwriter. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills ...
). Writing about ''Pilot Machines'', David Fricke of ''Rolling Stone'' praises the band as having “a rich line in acoustic textures and chamber-rock dynamics.” After Kapala's departure from the band in 2013, Darlingside moved toward a traditional bluegrass set-up (notable because they do not play bluegrass) with all four remaining musicians clustered around a single condenser microphone. Following additional national tours translating their indie-rock songs into quartet arrangements, Darlingside released their second full-length album, ''Birds Say'', in September 2015. After headlining across New England on a regional release tour, they further promoted the album on a national tour supporting Grammy Award-winner
Patty Griffin Patricia Jean Griffin (born March 16, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician.Griffin, Patricia She is a vocalist and plays guitar and piano. She is known for her stripped-down songwriting style in the folk music genre. Her songs ...
at sold-out venues such as the
Ryman Ryman is a stationery retail company with 205 outlets nationwide in the United Kingdom. The website and stores provide a wide range of stationery and office supplies for homes and businesses, with its headquarters in Crewe, Cheshire. His ...
and Fillmore theaters. ''Birds Say'' received critical acclaim from NPR (“exquisitely-arranged, literary-minded, baroque folk-pop”), ''Rolling Stone'' (“A ‘must-see’ act...locomotive folk-pop confections so richly executed it's hard to tell if it's one voice or 12”), and ''The New Yorker'' (“Sometimes the sunshine breaks out in their harmonies and it feels like 1965 with David Crosby and the Byrds”). In 2016,
Folk Alliance International Folk Alliance International (previously the ''North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance'') is a non-profit organization that produces an annual conference that is the world's largest gathering of the folk music industry and community. Founde ...
named Darlingside “Artist of the Year.” In October of the same year, Darlingside released its second EP, ''Whippoorwill''. In 2018 the band performed at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. In October 2021, the band wrote and performed the song "Helping Others", the ninth of 11 tracks created for the Big Hearts World program for Nickelodeon's Noggin SVOD channel which ran from late March–December 2021, with the learning program's soundtrack releasing in September and animation produced at Made by Radio. In 2022, Senft announced that he would no longer tour or perform live with the band, though he would continue contributing in his other roles including writing and recording. Darlingside has since been joined on tour by
Molly Parden Molly Parden is an American folk musician based in Nashville, Tennessee. History Parden was born in Atlanta and raised in Jonesboro, Georgia Jonesboro () is a city in and the county seat of Clayton County, Georgia, United States. The popul ...
(bass, vocals), Ben Burns (drums, guitar), and Deni Hlavinka (keys, vocals), who have also contributed to the band's studio recordings.


Band name

The band's name originates from a songwriting class taken by the band members at
Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...
. The course instructor, Bernice Lewis, quoted British writer
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (; 21 November 186312 May 1944) was a British writer who published using the pseudonym Q. Although a prolific novelist, he is remembered mainly for the monumental publication '' The Oxford Book of English Verse 1 ...
in teaching the class to “kill your darlings”, wherein a favorite line, lick, or riff (“a darling”) might compromise the balance and arc of the song as a whole. The name “Darlingside” is an homage to “killing one’s darlings.” It is spelled with an “s” instead of a “c” (like regicide, fratricide, or homicide) because the band felt the “s” is easier on the eye.


Discography

* ''EP 1'' (2010) * ''Pilot Machines'' (2012) * ''Woodstock'' (with Heather Maloney) (2014) * ''Birds Say'' (2015) * ''Whippoorwill'' (2016) * '' Extralife'' (2018) * ''Look Up & Fly Away'' (2019) * ''Instrumentals Vol. 1'' (2020) * ''Fish Pond Fish'' (2020) * ''Everything is Alive'' (2023)


References


External links


Official website

Official Youtube Channel

Official Vimeo Channel

Twitter

Instagram
{{Authority control Musical groups from Boston American indie folk groups Thirty Tigers artists