I came upon St. Nothing while watching the live web feed of the most recent Boston Calling Festival. This Boston-based electro-pop trio won a SonicBids contest to perform at the festival. Now, anyone who has perused this blog will know that I’m not a huge fan of electro-pop — or at least, there isn’t a whole lot of it represented here. However, these amazing musicians completely blew me away. What makes them different (or maybe not, but it’s the first time I’d heard it done) is that they integrate lush live strings in with the beeps, boops and beats. What results is much warmer and more emotionally engaging than I’ve found electro-pop to be. This puts the humanity back into the music, and it’s hypnotic. For me, it’s the missing link.
St. Nothing is Marco Lawrence, devices and vocals; Sophia Carreras, guitarist; and Meredith Nero, strings. In February 2013, Lawrence self-released the Begin EP under the name of Hall of Mirrors. It featured a collection of demos that he wrote in late 2012, with cellist Jenna Calabro accompanying him. Lawrence started writing music at age 14, after music theory and improvisation training from his classical flute instructer. Five years later, he began playing electro-pop and eventually joined up with Carreras and Nero, changing their name of their collaboration to St. Nothing. In addition to the Boston Calling set, they’ve headlined at Great Scott and have performed with Young Galaxy, Juana Molina, Alpine and Freezepop. Fast forward to now, and they’ve been nominated for two Boston Music Awards this month, for ‘New Artist of the Year’ and ‘Electronic Artist of the Year.’ They’re currently recording their debut album.
They’ll be playing at the Middle East Downstairs as part of a special Shiner Beer Presents show, along with Small Black and Condor. It’s FREE, but you need to RSVP. They’ll also be at Pearl Street Night Club in Northampton, Massachusetts on December 6. We’ll be anxiously awaiting the new album.
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