The Living Arches
Tampa, Florida, United States | SELF
Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
If you like whisper-quiet indie folk music in the vein of Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens, check out the Living Arches. Singer-guitarist Jensen Kistler (of Florida Night Heat) and singer Micheal Hooker (of Dear Old Liar) produce dreamy, mostly acoustic folk that’ll have you pondering the ups and downs of life as you stir your coffee. But in a good way.
They’ve been writing and singing together for about a year, with “no end in sight,” according to their bio. For a taste of their music, check out the video above, shot during last summer’s Antiwarpt Festival in St. Petersburg.
The Living Arches will perform at 12:35 p.m. Saturday at the Play acoustic stage. Kistler is actually pulling double-duty, as Florida Night Heat will take the stage at 8 p.m. at New World Brewery, too. - TBT
"The duo featuring Jensen Kistler's (Florida Night Heat) and Micheal Hooker (formerly of Dear Old Liar) produce unadorned (guitar and light keys) anti-folk with charming pop tendencies, the centerpiece of the songwriting their winding boy-girl harmonies, his gentle tenor a lovely foil to her husky dulcet". - Creative Loafing
"The duo featuring Jensen Kistler's (Florida Night Heat) and Micheal Hooker (formerly of Dear Old Liar) produce unadorned (guitar and light keys) anti-folk with charming pop tendencies, the centerpiece of the songwriting their winding boy-girl harmonies, his gentle tenor a lovely foil to her husky dulcet". - Creative Loafing
Discography
1.) 2011 "ALREADY GONE" Single
AVAILABLE AS FREE DIGITAL DOWNLOAD:
www.thelivingarches.bandcamp.com
2.) 2011 The Living Arches/Golden Gardens Split
AVAILABLE AS DIGITAL DOWNLOAD: http://goldengardens.bandcamp.com/album/living-arches-golden-gardens-split
AVAILABLE AS CD ON ETSY: http://www.etsy.com/listing/82789942/the-living-archesgolden-gardens-split-ep
Currently recording 2 EPs with BROKEN MOLD and GREGG N. Releases TBA
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
The Living Arches are:
Jensen Kistler and Micheal Hooker.
The two met one spring evening of 2010 at Hooker's loft; she liked his speaking voice and had an inkling that a bottle of Red Zinfandel could tempt him into singing with her.
She was correct...
Both band members are Florida Natives which does impact their sound. Tampa Florida (where they are currently based), is a curious amalgam of swamp land, First Nation history, Cuban culture and home of the "Rum&Coke with Lime". The Living Arches' songwriting often incapsulates the sense of how sharing space in a community of transient people; on vacation or retiring, can dampen the soul and create a yearning to expand outward and beyond the confines of a tourist trap.
As stated in a local indie music review: "The centerpiece of their songs are their winding boy-girl vocal harmonies". Micheal's simple use of the melodica is a hint of her bohemian imagery, a longing for the streets of 19th century Paris or the Czech Republic..while, Kistler's guitar rhythms keep the melancholy of the palm frond woods they were raised by with the occasional nod to his punk-rock background.
Influences:
Townes Van Zandt, Patsy Cline, Nick Drake, Loretta Lynn, Billie Holiday, Son House fused with the contemporary ballads of Belle and Sebastian, Hope Sandoval and Bon Ivor and Blonde Redhead.
Links
