New Music: Stone Darling – ‘Baby Come Home’

Just when you think you know L.A.’s Stone Darling, they surprise you. Are the band the blue-eyed funk masters of their “Can You Get To That” cover? Are they the straight-ahead fuzz rockers of “I Stopped Missing You Today”? Or something else entirely? “Baby Come Home” finds them exploring the limits of garage rock, blanketing tom-tom percussion and a distorted major-key guitar riff with twangy harmonies and lyrics straight from the country-rock songbook. It’s a striking combination — if anyone’s ever done Jesus and Mary Chain versions of Dolly Parton songs, I have yet to hear them, but this is a nice start.

Previously: L.A. Unheard: Stone Darling