It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon and I’m flipping through music submissions, feeling dull and uninspired. The haunting and urgent opening chords of Arc & Stones "Silence" catch my attention and by the time Dan Pellarin’s vocals begin, I’m sold.
Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, Arc & Stones are Dan Pellarin, Ben Cramer, Joe Doino, and Eddy Bayes. Ben, Dan and Eddy met in the music school at the University of Miami but Ben and Eddy left after a year to pursue their solo careers. It was during Dan’s second year at Miami that he began to discuss the possibility of starting a band with Ben and he says that he realised that "it was time to really explore the real world of music, instead of being stuck in a classroom, and not out performing, and what better way than to start it up with good 'ol Ben Jammin'".
They met up in Brooklyn in June 2012 and began writing and recording immediately. They found drummer Joe Doino on Craigslist, which Dan admits could be the greatest find of all time.
Arc & Stones have a really distinctive sound which the band have coined as "Old soul meets a new sound". Ben looks to his Southern roots to explain the influence of southern rock and blues music on his writing but adds that they want to write songs that can be played in front of big audiences. This certainly comes through in their music and each track on their eponymous EP, from the anthemic "Say Goodbye" to the vulnerability of "Let me Down", signifies a moment of epic circumstance.
Dan confirms this. Although his musical journey was quite different he says, "I was always into the big, edgy, atmospheric music that sounded gigantic on the records. Whether it's rock, soul, industrial, or electronica, I always look for the big choruses and the driving verse riffs and progressions, which I strive for when I write".
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