SARAH DARLING High Dive Seattle, WA April 19, 2022
SARAH DARLING
High Dive
Seattle, WA
April 19, 2022
With all of the film festival work going on this week, it was hard to take an intentional “break” from the festival and go and check out some live music. But, once I heard Sarah Darling’s work, I knew I wanted to be at the High Dive in Seattle on Tuesday evening.
I am the first to admit that I am new to Sarah’s work. She has been making and recording music for more than ten years. She has appeared on reality television competitions and initially she had been walking the line between pop and country music with her sound more in the country camp these days. Seattle was the first stop on the “Cruisin’” tour and the fans were ready to kick things off right.
Joined by Julie Lavery on acoustic guitar and vocals, Sarah took to the stage with a big smile on her face. Both ladies decked out in retro-cool outfits, they spent the evening performing songs together, in addition with two songs solo by Julie and the encore solo by Sarah. With a lava lamp that subscribed more to the tortoise than the hare, the set began.
If you’re a musician, then it’s fairly easy to recognize talent, regardless of genre. Both Sarah and Julie are incredibly talented musicians and songwriters. When you strip anyone down to two vocals and one or two guitars, there is nothing to hide behind. No backing tracks. No distortion or other instrumentation to “hide” the negatives. Nope. The artists are out there for all to see and hear and in this case, it was beautiful.
Sarah has a positive energy that at times masks her depth of artistry. What I mean by that is she has layers of emotion to her songs. It may come across as something upbeat but there’s so much more going on than surface hooks and melodies. And when she decides to intentionally write or perform a serious song, the end results are just incredibly moving.
One such song, “Silver Linings” from her upcoming new EP, is one perfect example. A song written about the ups and down of the music business, this song was perhaps Sarah at her most vulnerable. And man did it resonate with me in the best of ways.
Sarah performed the recently released, “Hungover”, “Waves” and, “Pretender” which sounded amazing in a duo format. If all of these songs are on the upcoming EP, that release is going to be one badass showcase of amazing songwriting and performance.
Sarah pulled out “Dreams” (Fleetwood Mac cover) from her Campfire Sessions she did during the pandemic times. She and Julie did an amazing job on this classic tune. The vocal harmonizing and the almost torch song quality to their version was spot on. Being a musician myself, trust me when I say these ladies have all the talent in the world.
An acknowledgment to Julie’s father who had flown in all the way from Boston was made which was really awesome to see that level of support.
As Sarah and Julie mentioned during their set, they’re looking for good vibes on this tour. Judging by their performance on Tuesday evening, they’re already spreading good vibes themselves. I hope all the fans that turn out return the good vibes in turn. Sarah and Julie definitely deserve every success they have coming their way.
Needless to say I was blown away by the performance Tuesday evening. Do yourself a favor - go support these talented musicians when they hit your town on the “Cruisin” tour.
Best,
Mark Sugiyama
Eclectic Arts
Connect with Eclectic Arts: Social Media Links Here
High Dive
Seattle, WA
April 19, 2022
(All photos - Mark Sugiyama for Eclectic Arts (c) 2022)
With all of the film festival work going on this week, it was hard to take an intentional “break” from the festival and go and check out some live music. But, once I heard Sarah Darling’s work, I knew I wanted to be at the High Dive in Seattle on Tuesday evening.
I am the first to admit that I am new to Sarah’s work. She has been making and recording music for more than ten years. She has appeared on reality television competitions and initially she had been walking the line between pop and country music with her sound more in the country camp these days. Seattle was the first stop on the “Cruisin’” tour and the fans were ready to kick things off right.
Joined by Julie Lavery on acoustic guitar and vocals, Sarah took to the stage with a big smile on her face. Both ladies decked out in retro-cool outfits, they spent the evening performing songs together, in addition with two songs solo by Julie and the encore solo by Sarah. With a lava lamp that subscribed more to the tortoise than the hare, the set began.
If you’re a musician, then it’s fairly easy to recognize talent, regardless of genre. Both Sarah and Julie are incredibly talented musicians and songwriters. When you strip anyone down to two vocals and one or two guitars, there is nothing to hide behind. No backing tracks. No distortion or other instrumentation to “hide” the negatives. Nope. The artists are out there for all to see and hear and in this case, it was beautiful.
Sarah has a positive energy that at times masks her depth of artistry. What I mean by that is she has layers of emotion to her songs. It may come across as something upbeat but there’s so much more going on than surface hooks and melodies. And when she decides to intentionally write or perform a serious song, the end results are just incredibly moving.
One such song, “Silver Linings” from her upcoming new EP, is one perfect example. A song written about the ups and down of the music business, this song was perhaps Sarah at her most vulnerable. And man did it resonate with me in the best of ways.
Sarah performed the recently released, “Hungover”, “Waves” and, “Pretender” which sounded amazing in a duo format. If all of these songs are on the upcoming EP, that release is going to be one badass showcase of amazing songwriting and performance.
Sarah pulled out “Dreams” (Fleetwood Mac cover) from her Campfire Sessions she did during the pandemic times. She and Julie did an amazing job on this classic tune. The vocal harmonizing and the almost torch song quality to their version was spot on. Being a musician myself, trust me when I say these ladies have all the talent in the world.
An acknowledgment to Julie’s father who had flown in all the way from Boston was made which was really awesome to see that level of support.
As Sarah and Julie mentioned during their set, they’re looking for good vibes on this tour. Judging by their performance on Tuesday evening, they’re already spreading good vibes themselves. I hope all the fans that turn out return the good vibes in turn. Sarah and Julie definitely deserve every success they have coming their way.
Needless to say I was blown away by the performance Tuesday evening. Do yourself a favor - go support these talented musicians when they hit your town on the “Cruisin” tour.
Best,
Mark Sugiyama
Eclectic Arts
Connect with Eclectic Arts: Social Media Links Here
"HUNGOVER" Official Music Video
(All photos - Mark Sugiyama for Eclectic Arts (c) 2022)
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