Oh Darling

Hotel Cafe - September 15, 2008

Live Review by Amber Henson

The band Oh Darling is like their name: super cute - on stage or off.  On stage, their outfits are color-coded and this two girl, two guy group looks like a double date (and two of them have the same last name ...curious ).  Off stage, on the album, the combination of the lead singer’s precious vocals and the solid musical performances make Nice Nice one of those albums that you’ll be singing along to upon first listen.

Which isn’t to say that this album is of the guilty pleasure type.  Just because Jasmine Ash purrs/whispers her lyrics doesn’t stop this band from rocking.  J. Marie Hall on bass isn’t just there to look pretty (though with her blond hair and blue eyes, she does a good job of that) (oh, gross, am I being sexist?).  And guitarist Daven Hall and drummer Jake Endicott can get rather hardcore on their listener’s asses.

But at the show, they got pushed a little bit into the background.  They wore teal shirts and jeans, to match the ladies, but J. Marie and Jasmine went all out.  Each was wearing a ruffly '80s style strapless prom dress, Jasmine’s teal and J. Marie’s black, with opposite colored tights.  They were made up with teal eye shadow and incredibly complicated hairstyles with accessories resembling what Carrie had in her hair in the wedding scene in the Sex and the City movie (and, alienating half of my audience . . . now).

The best tracks of the album are “Electrocute,” “Waking Up on a Train,” and “Only Beginnings.”  “Waking Up on a Train” has the lyrics: “Here’s something that you don’t know: I’m a pilot and I’ll fly this train crash into the front door,” which is, I’ll admit, something I didn’t know.  Oh Darling is smart, young, and very now, so be the one to know.