Exclusive EP Premiere: ‘Stone Darling,’ Stone Darling

ABOVE: STONE DARLING.

Stone Darling offers a retro, girl-group feel—but with modern grievances. Titles like “Fight,” “We’re Through,” and “Baby Come Home” make the track list of the group’s EP sounds like a relationship fight trajectory, without a happy ending (yet!). The doo-wop sound, which we could easily see coming through a 1960s record player in a nuclear home, is slightly betrayed by the strong-willed voices and forceful melodies of the all-female rock outfit. The EP offers respite for those of us still reeling from a summer romance in the unforgiving December cold. Stone Darling’s lo-fi sound and faint country twang makes even the most convinced urbanite want to hail a 1960s Chevy to the Midwest.

In “Fight,” lyrics like “I’m gonna scratch, I’m gonna bleed, I’m gonna fight” imply indeed you can draw blood from a Stone (Darling). And this week’s featured track, “Baby Come Home” [above] has a Dixie Chicks sound with a Rihanna agenda. A biting string sound reverberates through the first verse, as threatening as a woman scorned. The track questions the record’s commitment to strong-willed feminine solidarity: “I know that you love me, I know that you do. Why won’t you say that this love is true?,” lead singer Paige Stark pleads. “Baby come home, I don’t want to stay here alone,” the group continues in a blissful harmony.
 
“Baby Come Home” is refreshingly earnest, a modern iteration of a musical relic of the past.  Stone Darling allows for a bit of nostalgia without their inspiration becoming their identity, gifting us with new riffs on the heartland tunes we didn’t realize we missed so much. The EP allows for slight indulgence in a little bit of melancholy, but dares listeners to emerge without a smile.

FOR MORE ON STONE DARLING, VISIT THEIR MYSPACE. STREAM THEIR ENTIRE SELF-TITLED EP BELOW.