Known for his hermetic approach to recording, hunkering down with rudimentary equipment in an unfinished basement, Starlie creates songs that defy labels.
It is easy to be drawn in by the naked honesty of his songs, and the decidedly organic quality that is their defining element, as if they have always existed.
But influences have been transformed here–he sounds like no one so much as himself: a contemplative stirring that starts in the heart, gets amplified in the brain, and resonates outward.
His music is darkly serious, literate, both soothing and challenging: it rewards close listening and continues to evolve and unfold the more time you spend with it.
He works alone - no musicians, no producer, no engineer. The thing that’s always been his guiding light is songcraft. If you’ve got a great song, you can play it with an acoustic guitar or a 100 piece orchestra and it’s going to sound good. There’s beauty in simpicity.
“If I had time I would have written a shorter letter.”
About Starlie Diamant
No stranger to reinventing himself, after years on the road, playing solo and with a band, he had amassed a portfolio of original songs that defied pigeonholing and stumped bandmates.
“When you follow the music,” he says, “it can take you to surprising places. That can be uncomfortable for some people. Any time you do something new, you have to encounter the unknown.”
Undeterred, Starlie continued his alchemical approach to music, taking on the responsibilities of producer, engineer, rhythm section in order to realize the essence of the songs, playing all the parts himself and mixing them together on an old macbook. His first album, The Other Side of Midnight, was a collection of spare, acoustic numbers highlighting the power of a great song distilled down to its essence.
The follow up, Vinegar Road, showcases more elaborate production, somehow evoking the sound of a full band playing together. An ever-deepening work that is at once powerful, deep, funny, sad and frightening, it probes the emotional depths and somehow emerges uplifted.
“Don’t underestimate the power of sound, the mystery of sound, its ability to move us, to connect us to one another, to provoke us, to fulfill us. We live in a noisy world that is always intruding on us, always demanding things of us, always manipulating us. Music gives us a chance to make sound for us, it gives us a chance to create something in the spirit of an offering, something that’s given, and that asks nothing from you. That’s a rare and special thing to encounter today.”