Throughout the ages poets and philosophers have tried to capture the essence of music and its effects upon the human spirit. Plato claimed that music “gives soul to the universe”; Thomas Carlyle called it the “speech of angels.” In more modern times, music was Jimi Hendrix’s religion and Maya Angelou’s refuge. While these descriptors have their merit, their intangibility makes music no less elusive to our mortal brains. Fortunately, we have Becky Stark, one-third of the vocal group The Living Sisters, to give us a corporeal description that is perhaps a bit more, er, digestible.“It’s like eating kale.”
Stark, best known for her work in the folk group Lavender Diamond, is speaking specifically of singing harmony, which she does in The Living Sisters with singer-songwriter Eleni Mandell and Inara George of The Bird and the Bee. “Our music embraces the nutritive aspect of music,” she says. All three women attest to this nourishing power, and now they’re capturing their harmonious rapture in the form of Love to Live, the first Living Sisters album.
The group was sparked by a mutual desire between Stark and Mandell. “We both independently were yearning for more harmony in our lives,” says Stark, recalling the meeting she and Mandell had in 2005. A year later they met George who enthusiastically joined, and the women began performing when they could find time between their numerous projects and touring. Due to their busy schedules, The Living Sisters was just something the women did for fun. “Doing a record wasn’t in the forefront of our minds,” Mandell admits. Yet they were happily surprised when after years of continual interruptions the group was still thriving. “The Living Sisters just kept trekking along and never went away,” says Mandell.
A feature I wrote for Venus Zine. Read the full article here.
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