First/Last-Darlingside

"With four distinct voices clustered around a single microphone, Darlingside effortlessly draw audiences into their lush musical world. David Fricke of Rolling Stone describes them as “a quartet with a rich line in acoustic textures and chamber-rock dynamics.” The band’s sound, characterized by classical strings, tight vocal arrangements, bluegrass and rock instrumentation, and smart lyricism, is the product of complete collaboration among the four close friends. The group has no frontman; instead, lead vocals are traded from moment to moment, and each song features a new combination of instruments and textures, pulling heavily from folk, retro-pop, barbershop, and chamber music."

Darlingside is an indie-folk band hailing from Cambridge, MA. They hit Pittsburgh this Thursday (3/26) with fellow Massachusettsians Tall Heights. I want to thank Auyon Mukharji (Fiddle/Mandolin) for taking the time to participate in this edition of First/Last.

The first album you ever bought?
“14:59” by Sugar Ray was probably it, although Smashmouth and The Offspring soon followed.

Your last album bought?
Probably the Ballroom Thieves' soon-to-be-released debut full-length, "A Wolf in the Doorway."

Favorite album of all time?
“High Violet” by The National is one I come back to pretty consistently.

Least favorite/most disappointing album?
I loved the Local Natives' “Gorilla Manor”, and while their follow-up “Hummingbird” was a decent effort, it was not what I was hoping for.

First concert attended?
I was in the Kansas City Youth Symphony as a child. Although I was technically a performer for those concerts, I mostly just sat in the back of the second violin section and thought about video games while mimicking other kids' bow strokes without making any noise, so I may as well have been an attendee.

Last concert?
I recently got to check out Caitlin Canty at a show in Connecticut. She killed it.

Favorite concert ever?
The first time I saw Trampled By Turtles was pretty magical. Large men, small instruments. I'm all about that.

Least favorite concert?
Probably one of those Youth Symphony concerts I was in as a kid.

Any thoughts, experiences about Pittsburgh?
I went to high school in Kansas City with a kid named Steve Danforth. Steve is from Pittsburgh. I'm a big fan of Steve. I thus associate vague but strongly positive feelings with the city. We also got to play an event put on by the Pittsburgh Folk Music Society back in November, which was wonderful. Can't wait to come back.

Thanks, Auyon. 'Large men, small instruments'... nice!