((The Last Names)) Band Profile and Upcoming Chicago Concerts - Oh My Rockness

NYC's The Last Names are an excellently pleasant indie-pop duo comprised of the husband/wife power couple, Justin Rice and Darbie Nowatka. They both also play in Bishop Allen - a band that's been churning out superbly well-crafted, under-the-radar pop for years. The Last Names is more of that - superb pop, that is.

There's a slow and easy and dreamy quality about The Last Names; especially when Nowatka takes over the vocals (they trade off). Her perfectly relaxing voice reminds me of Hope Sandoval from Mazzy Star (who was always the Queen of the Warm and Fuzzies). And when Nowatka sings over these super mellow, clean guitar jangles... well... things definitely get chill

The Last Names kind of tap into a kind of retro '50s/'60s endless summer poolside vibe - you know, where all the dudes wore straw fedoras and drank martinis and all the girls hung out in their teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikinis and.... drank martinis. Sounds pretty perfect to me.

The Last Names are also in the middle of an ambitious 52 covers project (your move, Sufjan). They're 32 songs in and you can listen to all of them via their Soundcloud page. A lovely band.

Published September 20, 2012
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