I heard a few songs by Darla Rose the other day (via Eric at Can you see the sunset from the south side?) and was immediately hooked. These remain the only two songs I’ve heard from her, but I’ve been enjoying them so much I thought it was worth bringing them to your attention.
Eric suggests that she sounds like an early Juliana Hatfield, which is exactly right. Except even Juliana might have had a hard time putting together something as sweet as “Number One.” It’s the kind of song that sounds so winsome that you don’t realize until you’ve heard it many times that the lyrics are more than a little dark (“I’m gonna find a way back to before you tore apart my heart”). It doesn’t make it any less pretty, but it helps you realize there is substance beneath the pretty surface.
Another point in her favor is the prominence of the autoharp, which I think we all can agree is dreadfully underutilized in contemporary indie music.
I don’t know a whole lot more than that, but if I do hear some more and it’s as good as these, I will certainly be posting again. And it looks like she’s playing a show tomorrow night in NYC, so if you’re there, you might should check it out.