Starlight Girls
Starlight Girls’ new release Fantasm will hit the waves on October 13, 2015. There’s something about Halloween season that fits this six-piece Bushwick band’s siren allure and gothic-tinged theatricality. Their poetic lyrics are inspiring, channeled by a unique energy-driven mix of surf, pop, and noise with a bit of metal for good measure. SPIN has described Starlight Girls’ genre-bending sound as “undeniably luminous.”
Founder and lead singer Christina B played keyboards and sang as part of her family’s mega-church in Ohio before she escaped to Brooklyn disguised as an airline stewardess at the behest of guitarist Shaw Walters, a California transplant who had recently arrived in New York with a suitcase full of Bay Area weirdo noise rock sensibility. Sara Mundy signed on to sing and play keyboards and Tysen Arveson became the band’s resident bass player and tattoo artist. With the group taking shape, they later added vagabonds Josh Davis on drums and Isabel Alvarez on keyboards and backup vocals to fill out the sound.
The band toured extensively after self-producing their first EP, opening for a diverse range bands includingSharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Kate Nash, La Sera, Lucius, Tilly and the Wall, St. Lucia and Crystal Fighters. A comedic e-mail exchange with Xiu Xiu frontman Jamie Stewart led to a collaboration on 7” single 7×3 which was thoroughly steeped in noise and produced by Stewart.
Produced by Christina B and Shaw Walters, Fantasm will satiate fans and newcomers with tracks such as “La La Lune” or the percussive album opener “Intrigue.” Thumping track “$9,000,000” is quite simply a thrill ride, while “Fancy” caps off the album on a high note, hooking you with an upbeat disco vibe before taking you on an epic journey. The result is hauntingly gothic, yet without plodding gloom; riveting without artifice…