The Living Sisters, Love To Live

By Chelsea Spear

Listening to Love To Live on an iPod feels wrong. The maiden voyage by The Living Sisters requires the listener to lower a needle onto a fat slab of vinyl and listen to a brief overture of static before their music begins.

This harmonizing Los Angeles supergroup—comprised of Tom Waits protégée Eleni Mandell, baroque pop chanteuse Becky Stark, and tropicalia thrush Inara George—has sifted through some of the finest pre-rock and roll music to create an enchanting album of mid-century modern pop. “Shu-bop, shu-bop” vocals, handclaps, spoken-word breakdowns in the middle of a song, call-and-response choruses, twinkly slide guitars, and Hammond B3 organs. . . if you heard it on AM radio between 1955 and 1980, there’s a good chance it surfaces on here as well.

George, Stark, and Mandell all have very distinctive songwriting styles. The thought of the three of them co-writing songs together initially brought to mind the disjointed verses and chorus of “Handle With Care” by the Traveling Wilburys. Thankfully, the album doesn’t suffer from the kind of cut-and-paste songwriting that marred their forebears. While the whole trio sings on all the songs, each of the songwriters has penned her own material. This allows each of the Sisters to dabble in a new form of music for each of them.

Of the three members, Becky Stark shows the greatest sense of growth. Her albums with Lavender Diamond cast her as a daffy songbird with an aptitude for densely arranged, soft rock-influenced folk. While the monologue she delivers in “Cradle” is consistent with this Gracie Allen-meets-Sandy-Denny image, the Emmylou Harris-worthy “This Mountain Has Skies” showcases a more somber and contemplative side to her songwriting and performing, of which this writer hopes to hear more. Meanwhile, Eleni Mandell puts forth a coy, flirtatious effort in the loping “Hold Back” and the melancholy, slide guitar-punctuated “Ferris Wheel”.

If the album suffers from any great setback, the preponderance of mid-tempo 4/4 songs at times gives it a mired sound. No one will put this on expecting the next great dance record, but the girls could do a great job with a more sprightly up-tempo number or two.

In a year in which the traditional/retro music scene threatens to be overtaken by Hollywood starlets and grotesque theatricals, The Living Sisters put the focus squarely on the music. Their album runs the traditional LP length of a little over half an hour, leaving at least one writer charmed and wondering what these upstarts will do next.

Love To Live will be released on March 30 by Vanguard Records. Please check out the band’s MySpace page to hear selections or visit the Vanguard Records website to order a copy of the album.