Starling Electric

Originally formed by singer/songwriter Caleb Dillon, Michigan-based psychedelic/chamber/space/pop/rock giants Starling Electric have since evolved into a formidable quartet with the addition of drummer John Fossum and guitarists Jason DeCamillis and Christian Blackmore Anderson. The group's sound echoes its love of melodic '60s and '70s pop and art rock, but behind that paisley pulse are four forward-thinking multi-instrumentalists who are just as comfortable launching an air-raid siren of post-rock feedback as they are in re-creating Pet Sounds. The band's debut album, Clouded Staircase, was self-released in the summer of 2006, garnering both local and critical acclaim, including praise from Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow (Posies/Big Star), as well as Guided by Voices' Robert Pollard, the latter of whom invited the band to open a series of shows on his 2006 East Coast tour. The group signed with Bar/None Records the following year and re-released Clouded Staircase in 2008.