Silver Starling is a Canadian
indie pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and su ...
band from
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
.
Biography
Silver Starling began as a project of Montreal-born singer-songwriter Marcus Paquin. Outside of creating his own music Marcus has been a
recording engineer having worked with
Torngat,
Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member ...
and
The National.
Paquin met drummer Liam O'Neill after seeing him perform at a free jazz show and the two soon began performing the songs together.
Marika Anthony-Shaw joined the band, adding violin, viola and keyboards. Peter X was soon added on bass guitar and banjo. The then four-piece recorded their self-titled debut album and added Gabriel Lambert as an additional guitarist. The album was released on
Last Gang Records
Last Gang Records is a record label formed by Canadian music industry lawyer Chris Taylor (businessman), Chris Taylor and concert promoter Donald K. Tarlton in the Fall of 2003 at the Pop Montreal Music Festival. Last Gang was nominated as Indepe ...
in October 2009. It reached No. 115 on the
Earshot
Earshot is an American alternative metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1999. The band's lineup has changed several times during their existence, with vocalist Wil Martin being the band's sole constant member.
After signing to Warner Bros. Reco ...
Top 200 and No. 130 on the CMJ Top 200. It was distributed through
Universal Music
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...
in Canada and
Fontana in USA.
Falling under the genre classification of pop/rock, their sound was described as "brilliantly conceived, skillfully executed
art-pop
Art pop (also typeset art-pop or artpop) is a loosely defined style of pop music influenced by art theories as well as ideas from other art mediums, such as fashion, fine art, cinema, and avant-garde literature. The genre draws on pop art's ...
", "touchingly vulnerable yet heart-achingly optimist slow
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
tinged with the gentleness of
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
" with "an eclectic-yet-carefully-plotted blend of elements of Blues, Country, Rock"
Silver Starling played three large Canadian Music Festivals in 2009:
Osheaga
The Osheaga Music and Arts Festival (french: Festival musique et arts Osheaga) is a multi-day indie music festival in Montreal, Quebec, that is held every summer at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Île Sainte-Hélène. The festival takes place on six stages ...
,
Hillside and the
Toronto Virgin Fest.
The band toured in September 2009 in Quebec and Ontario to promote their upcoming album. They played the 2009
CMJ
CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...
Music Marathon in New York,
M for Montreal
M for Montreal (M pour Montréal) is an annual 4-day music event produced by Avalanche Prod, which is held in various venues in Montréal, Québec. It usually takes place in the third weekend of November.
Description
M for Montreal is an indep ...
in November 2009 and
SXSW in March 2010.
On February 26, 2010, Silver Starling premiered their video for "Closer" on Spinner Magazine and were nominated in the Freshman Video category at
mtvU
MTVU (formerly stylized as MtvU and mtvU) is an American digital cable TV channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group, a unit of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel was first known as VH1 Uno from 2000 to ...
online, alongside
Jonsi from
Sigur Ros.
The UK band
Band of Skulls
Band of Skulls are an English rock band from Southampton, consisting of Russell Marsden (guitar, vocals) and Emma Richardson (bass, vocals); Matt Hayward (drums; 2002–2016) was previously a member. The group formed after meeting in college, ...
added Silver Starling as an opener for their 2010 cross-Canada tour. Drummer Liam O'neill left the band shortly before tour and was temporarily replaced by Mike Shulha.
The band announced its amicable dissolution on its Facebook page on April 28, 2015.
Paquin subsequently produced albums for
Reuben and the Dark (''
un love''),
The Weather Station
The Weather Station is a Canadian folk music band fronted by Tamara Lindeman, formed in 2006. The band membership has changed over the years, and as of 2022 includes Lindeman (lead vocals, piano), Ben Whiteley (bass), Johnny Spence (keyboards), ...
(''
Ignorance
Ignorance is a lack of knowledge and understanding. The word "ignorant" is an adjective that describes a person in the state of being unaware, or even cognitive dissonance and other cognitive relation, and can describe individuals who are unaware ...
''),
Sarah Harmer
Sarah Harmer (born November 12, 1970) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and environmental activist.
Early life
Born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, Harmer gained her first exposure to the musician's lifestyle as a teenager, when her older sis ...
(''
Are You Gone
''Are You Gone'' is the sixth album by Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer, released on February 21, 2020.Brock Thiessen"Sarah Harmer Returns with Her First New Album in a Decade" '' Exclaim!'', November 14, 2019. It is her first new album sinc ...
''),
Tim Baker (''Forever Overhead''),
Stars
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...
(''
From Capelton Hill'') and
Julia Jacklin
Julia Jacklin (born 30 August 1990) is an Australian singer-songwriter from the Blue Mountains. Jacklin's musical style has been described as indie pop, indie folk, and alternative country. She has released three studio albums, ''Don't Let the ...
(''
Pre Pleasure'') before releasing his debut solo album ''Our Love'' in November 2022.
Members
* Marcus Paquin - Vocals, Guitar
* Marika Anthony-Shaw - Violin, Viola, Keyboards, Glockenspiel
* Peter X - Bass, Banjo
* Gab Lambert - Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin
Discography
Albums
* ''Silver Starling'' (2009)
References
External links
silverstarling.com(defunct)
{{Authority control
Musical groups with year of establishment missing
Musical groups from Montreal
Canadian indie pop groups