Known for its Irish coffee and live music, Molly Malone’s (Fairfax and 6th) served as the venue for a little known, but beloved Los Angeles band called Heartstring Symphony. Tuesday night was their first appearance in a month long residency that will see them perform every Tuesday during March.
The band consists of four players wielding your typical drums by John Wicks, bass by Dylan Cooper, guitar by Alec Dixon, and acoustic guitar and vocals by Heather Porcaro. The Symphony played an hour long set of laid back yet tightly performed rock numbers. Normally the “laid back rock with female vocals” leads to a Lilith Fair (A Sarah McLachlan music fair) comparisons, but this was different. The music on its own is along the lines of a Beulah, but the female vocals give the sound a wholly different dynamic. The first couple tunes suffered as a result of some minor pitch problems, but the music was consistently solid and the singer grew more comfortable as the set went on.
Normally every show has a highlight; the one thing you point to in post show discussions. For me, it was the simple and altogether refined lead guitar work. The lead really colored every tune in the exact manner I wanted it to. That’s not to say it was boring and predictable, simply tasteful. The penultimate song of the night included a crowd pleasing pitch change transition into the final tune. As the set ended, the band’s small yet devoted following called for one more song yelling out, “Downtown L.A.” The Heartstringers delivered and topped their show with a cute little number all about, you guessed it, Downtown L.A.
The opinion here is that the band would benefit from turning everything up a notch, you know, to eleven, but overall it was a pleasant listening experience and recommended. Go check ‘em out at Molly Malone’s next Tuesday evening. Or the one after that. Or even the next one. They’ll be there.
Molly Malone’s
575 S. Fairfax Los Angeles - Map
Heartstring’s go on at 8:00pm every Tuesday in March
Cost: $0
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1 response so far ↓
1 Lincoln // Mar 6, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Nice review B! The show was $6 bones though, and well worth it.
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