What does a string band composed of indie rock, bluegrass, barbershop, and classical sensibilities sound like? Massachusetts quartet Darlingside wants you to know.
In addition to combining virtuoso mandolin, cello and bass guitar performances with percussion and the more traditional guitar and bass, the band adds a whole other layer to its songs by including pitch-perfect four-part harmonies throughout.
Whether it is an impassioned track from their first release, EP1, about the search for an honest person (“Good Man”), a pop rock gem from the full-length debut, Pilot Machines, lamenting a person’s own faults (“Terrible Things”), or the perfect Sunday morning acoustic serenade (“In the Morning”), the band is never short on surprises.
In its video work, the ethereal, fast-paced rock track “The Woods” is accompanied by dazzling animation featuring characters running through various fantastical settings thatbleed into one another, and the band displays its humorous side on the bouncy rock track “Still” by using hand puppets to lip-sync the song.
With humor and dexterity, the band charms and entertains, while lead singer David Senft keeps things edgy by injecting curve ball phrases like “arrogant son of a bitch” into a smoky jazz set with all the casualness of somebody talking about the weather.
Saturday 11/16. $10, 8pm. BON, 100 W. South St. 244-3786.